usury

And the sharks are smelling blood in the water:

A bill that would bring back payday lending to North Carolina has attracted a powerful new co-sponsor: Senate Rules Committee chairman Tom Apodaca. The support of Apodaca, R-Hendersonville, added to the heavyweight lobbyists that the industry has retained, makes it a bill to be reckoned with.

We might as well just stop passing laws:

If they weren't a bank, they wouldn't be able to offer this product in North Carolina," said Chris Kukla, senior vice president with the Center for Responsible Lending, which leads a coalition of groups opposed to what they describe as abusive loan practices. The effective interest rates for Ready Advance loans could be as high as 365 percent annual percentage rate, Kukla said.

This story also highlights an issue that gets under my skin very deeply:

This Friday afternoon in downtown Charlotte, please join hundreds of faith leaders, advocates for social justice, students, and progressive activists from across the southeast to demand REAL financial reform.