What is Usury?

EPGD Business Law covers important legal topics in 5 minutes or less.

[@Rockfishtbc]

The most widely recognized reference to usury comes from Dante’s Inferno. Usury originally meant charging any interest on a loan. Late fees were charged but not interest.

[@josieblue1686]

Actually the term Usery is ancient and exists throughout the Bible. According to the Bible, Usury, charging interest, is considered a sin. Muslims still follow the law, meaning, yeah, they don’t charge interest on a mortgage. This is why in so-called civilized society when we buy a house we’re actually paying three or four times more than its cost or worth. Just learned about this recently which is why I was looking for KZbin videos about it and came across yours.

[@AlexKenas]

Jews were not allowed to charge interest to other Jews, but were allowed to with Gentiles. John Calvin's Financial Ethic of Usury redefined usury from charging interest to charging excessive interest. While the Bible does not define usury specifically, Deuteronomy 23 strongly implies that it is not restricted to money lending. Aristotle explained why charging usury is wrong and his works strongly influenced Thomas Aquinas to explain that usury can also be charging use fees for property owners.

[@josieblue1686]

@@AlexKenas it’s in the New Testament and the Quran as well. As far as I know the only ones who still obey it are Muslims.

[@V1er1f1ed]

@@josieblue1686 and Christians

[@Jay2JayGaming]

'This is why in so-called civilized society when we buy a house we’re actually paying three or four times more than its cost or worth.' No we aren't, because assets like houses appreciate. While you may owe more than what a house is worth when you first buy it, as time goes on the house will be worth more and more money. Plus, because of inflation, the money you pay the bank will be worth less and less. By the time you've paid off the loan, the house is worth far more than what you bought it for- generally speaking. This is actually part of what causes housing bubbles in high inflation. For the rich, houses are just another investment. They take out a loan that's worth less than what the house will be, and make a profit when they sell it. The higher inflation is, the more the value of that loan will depreciate, so you make more money and faster too. So when inflation is high, people go around buying lots of houses which causes housing prices to skyrocket. This is also why it's important to raise interest rates. By raising interest rates, the Fed indirectly raises the interest rates for loans, which means there's less profit to be had in taking out a bunch of loans and buying up assets (which makes inflation worse and causes bubbles). For this reason, Turkey is dealing with a 50% annual inflation rate- because Erdogan thinks interest rates are Usury and is keeping them low, which is causing the Lyra's value to plummet and is wiping out people's savings as fast as they can be made. Interest is important to keeping economic growth stable and is one of the few ways the government can do so without directly taxing, regulating, or otherwise intervening in an onerous fashion.

[@seer775]

@@Jay2JayGaming Assets "may" appreciate. Keyword is "may", and you accept all of the risk as the debtor if it doesn't. The value of a house during the 2008 financial crash was next to nothing. Banks were rapidly liquidating houses due to the practice of offering high risk mortgages backed by zero credit. Thousands of homes foreclosed, and in the end the banks were propped up by the taxpayer. Your effective interest rate on a loan will almost always be above "standard 2% inflation". Banks are in the business of making money. They won't offer a loan if they stand to lose it.

[@jfh142857]

Goes back well before Shakespeare champ.

[@LokiBeckonswow]

haha thank you

[@AlexKenas]

Payday, title, and timeshare loans tend to be perfect examples of charging excessive interest rates in addition to violating the Truth In Lending Act.

[@jamuriyadabarakaysan1858]

By the jews

[@swoondrones]

Usury is ANY INTERRST! Say when usury definition changed to be too much interest, and why.

[@terrylm235]

Usury is charging of ANY profit/interest on a loan contract. God condemns it in the Old Testament, so learn about it in order to please Him!

[@TheIngPin]

aka loan sharking

[@rasalgooch8204]

Rip ears w that intro

[@cock_baitman6701]

Right

[@LokiBeckonswow]

lolllllll fr

[@danmar007]

This subject should be given hours or days of discussion. :-)

[@teamcanadaicepolice]

AKA Jews

[@abiryaakovalmoznino3395]

Christians forced Jews to do loans then got mad when ya’ll couldn’t pay up. Money ain’t free, and we had the right to fine

[@OGbqze]

​@@abiryaakovalmoznino3395🤡

[@dont.ripfuller6587]

Usury, debt slavery, interest

[@chadkline4268]

And it's not only interest today, it's compounded interest.

[@nickstebbens]

No, usury refers to loans and/or debts made against one's personage rather than retained with validly exchangeable collateral. A mortgage is not usurious, regardless of how much interest is charged on it, or for delinquency on its payments, since in the case of delinquency the house can be seized. Usury is evil because it is preemptive slavery. That the definition of 'usury' was expanded to INCLUDE exorbitant interest rates on loans is merely that, an additional definition, like how the word 'run' has over 600 definitions; we still know what people mean when they say 'run.'