Usury Rate

  

Categories: Credit, Ethics/Morals

See: Usury Laws.

You'd think credit card companies would be guilty of usuary. They charge something like 2% fees on late cards, i.e. if you carry forward into next month an unpaid balance. And you'd think, "Well, 2.5% isn't all that bad, especially in the modern era, where The Fed is loaning money at less than that, and mortgages commonly go for under 4%." But then you read the fine print, and you realize that it's 2.5% per month. Or some 30% (compounding an issue as well) per year.

Rates that high, you'd think, would be so high that they're illegal (that's what usury is)...but they're not. You'd imagine Visa and Mastercard and the others having a few lawyers sitting around opining on this issue. The usury rate must be even higher. Maybe 40%?

Yeah, oof. Just pay your bills. Or don't buy the earrings.

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