Has anyone followed usury law (maximum lending interest rates?)

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I got curious because I know some credit cards bounce up to 25% if you screw up, and I was watching an ad for Sears where the little disclaimer mentioned 29.9%. I thought we had usury laws. I did a little research and found that many of them are rescinded for national banks (or banks with N.A. in the name) and otherwise rates are regulated by state, but can be as high as 50% (or maybe more, that's the highest one I found on a quick look).

Combine that with a more stringent bankruptcy law, and it's no wonder everyone's sucking wind. What the hell happened?

Oh, wait... um, Republican leadership? I may have just answered my own question.

[annabanana]

1. We don't have any of those (usury laws) any more,

There was a bill. Most of the Dems thought the max was too high... so the bill went no where. So there are no caps. They can charge whatever the hell they want, whenever they want.

[Kat45]

2. When and why were they rescinded?

I've been wondering about usury laws myself as I've seen ridiculous interest rates everywhere these days.

[Dreamer Tatum]

3. Depending on the lender, maximum rates were as high as 34.99% even under Clinton

Cross Country bank, First Premier...they all did it long ago and continue to do so now.

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4. Does nobody care?

I would think that a smart politician would latch onto this.

This is a subject that affects pretty much anyone not making half a zillion dollars a year. If someone could give me a reason to feel they might be able to put a cap on the rates - a REASONABLE cap (not 30%) - I'd vote for them.

I always thought we had usury laws, but I've seen rates hit 24.9%, and now advertised at 29.9%, and goodness - when does it stop?

And it's not just the rate, but when it's compounded, and when you make the minimum (supposedly if you make it within 20 days there's no charge, but that's not a full billing cycle, so who really does that?).

Credit funds a lot of our HD TV's and SUVs and stuff like that, but it's also killing us from the inside. I bet if we can get that under control, it'll fix a lot of things.

Some of it, granted, is consumers not thinking it through. For instance, go into Macy's (say) and get 20% off instantly if you put it on a Macy's card, with an additional something percent just for applying. So you've saved $20 on a $100 item. Now pay the minimum - you'll probably give them $50 in exchange for that $20.

For stuff like that, it's caveat emptor, but rates in general seem to have no cap on them.