Church Targets Predatory Lenders that charge up to 6,000 percent.

The Most Rev. Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, last week announced plans to use the Church's clout to take on a controversial new breed of money lender and "compete [them] out of business." Welby – a former oil trader who has been highly critical of banking practices while serving on Britain's Banking Standards Commission, a cross party group consisting of MPs and members of the House of Lords – wants to drive payday lenders out of business by launching a network of credit unions.

Struggling families and individuals unable to get credit from banks are among the customers of the pay lenders, who provide loans of up to £1,000 ($1,500) to be repaid when weekly or monthly wages come through. Though meant to be short-term, the loans involve astronomical annualized interest rates – for example, those offered by Wonga, which Welby specifically criticized, amount to 6,000 percent.

Read the complete article at -- http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2013/0731/Anglican-Church-sets-its-sights-on-predatory-lenders

By the way, did you know that predatory corporatists have been systematically modifying or removing laws that regulated the rates of interest or the fees they can charge consumers? Have you noticed the skyrocketing interest rates or high fees people are paying today? Many of the rates and fees charged today would have been illegal before – what the corporatists do today would have been called “usury.”

Wouldn't it be great if American churches got involved too?