also in Espanol – Linked on our blogs with Americans for Financial Reform AFR
- Americans for Fairness in Lending (AFFIL) and Americans for Financial Reform (AFR) are partnering to reform the nation’s lending industry and financial system to protect Americans’ neighborhoods, homes and pocketbooks.
- For too long, the rules of Wall Street have been written by the bankers themselves. This year, that has to change.
- We are a coalition of over 200 national, state and local consumer, labor, retiree, investor, community and civil rights organizations that have come together to spearhead a campaign for real reform in our banking and financial system.
- AFFIL is providing adjunct staff to AFR and coordination for work on our shared website. (About).
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Address: Americans for fairness in lending AFFIL, 7 Winthrop Square, 4th Floor, Boston, MA 02110, USA;
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History of Usury: What do Hammurabi, Plato, Charlemagne, Dante and Queens Mary and Elizabeth have in common? They all condemned, outlawed or regulated the charging of interest on loans.
In fact, until the early 1900s interest rates in the United States were kept at or near 10%. And until 1979, loan laws provided some interest rate cap in every state. Then everything changed. Governments and banks put profits before people. And now the lending industry is spiraling out of control.
u·su·ry (yoo’zhe-ree) n.pl. u·su·ries:
- 1. The practice of lending money and charging the borrower interest, especially at an exorbitant or illegally high rate.
- 2. An excessive or illegally high rate of interest charged on borrowed money.
- 3. Archaic. Interest charged or paid on a loan.
Old Testament:
- The Prophet Ezekiel includes usury in a list of “abominable things,” along with rape, murder, robbery and idolatry. Ezekiel 18:19-13.
- Jews are forbidden to lend at interest to one another. Exodus 22:25; Deuteronomy 23:19-20, Leviticus 25:35-37.
1750 B.C.:
- The Code of Hammurabi regulates the interest that can be charged on a loan. Historical records indicate that many loans were made below the legal limit.