'10 Percent' Campaign Against Bank Usury

from OurFuture.org:



'10 Percent' Campaign Against Bank Usury
By Isaiah J. Poole

August 11, 2009 - 9:50am ET


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When Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., in May tried to get a 15 percent limit on credit card rates added to a bill imposing new regulations on the industry, the amendment only received 33 votes—and only one from a Republican.

That defeat, though, has not killed the movement to put laws against usury back on the books. In fact, a grassroots movement is moving even more audaciously than Sanders, using the Old Testament and the Quran as inspiration. The idea is simple: "10 Percent Is Enough."

The movement is being led by the Metro Industrial Areas Foundation, an offshoot of the national Industrial Areas Foundation founded by Saul Alinsky in 1940. Its communications director, Ari Lipman, was the Campaign for America's Future's first Maria Leavey Tribute Award winner.

According to indexcreditcards.com, the national average credit card rate was 14.94 percent, an 18-month high, but rates in excess of 25 percent are not uncommon. A June article on ConsumerAffairs.com includes the complaint of one Bank of America customer who saw his credit rate jump inexplicably to 27.99 percent, even though he had not had a late payment in four years. A similar story of banks jacking up rates, in anticipation of the upcoming law cracking down on abusive credit card practices, appeared Monday in the Chicago Sun-Times. In addition to the rates themselves, banks are imposing higher fees that can be especially devastating on families living on the financial edge. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2009083311/10-percent-campaign-against-bank-usury

right away, being the Bible-believin' folks they are, right?

from laughing out loud to catch your breath. :bounce:

If you can't make a very tidy profit lending at prime+10%, you need to find another business to be in.

Nobel Prize for Economics by proving that when the interest rates go above 10%, the economy starts dumping money into bubbles, booms and frauds instead of constructive investments.

Interesting post... thanks!

:kick:

labor and material in a project and come up with a return over 10%. For example, you might spend $500 for a better burner and cut your gas usage by 15%, therefore saving $50 a year. Or you might spend $500 to make 350 extra widgets a month and at the end of the year raise your profit $50. Or, you might loan the $500 out on credit cards at 28% and more than double your profit.

Occasionally, there is a real breakthrough such as the personal computer. That made a lot of money for the investors. On the other hand, it's only now that the companies that bought computers to control processes, track inventory, etc are seeing an increased profit. I wonder what the ROI is for those end users of the new technology.

:kick: