Usury
an excessive or exorbitant interest or premium paid, or stipulated to be paid, for the loan of money. Also the practice of lending money at interest; lent; specifically, the practice of taking exorbitant or excessive interest for the loan of money; the practice of exacting interest in an exorbitant way from needy or extravagant borrowers. In the ancient world, interest was always usurious as it is in the East at the present day. The Mosaic Law prohibited taking interest from Hebrews (Exod. xxii: 25; Levit. xxv: 35-37; Deut. xxiii: 20); and Christ's words, "Give to him that asketh thee" (Matt. v: 42), seem to be of still wider application. The Fathers regarded interest as usury, and therefore as a species of robbery; and this opinion prevailed in the Church till the 16th century, and numbered Luther and Melanchthon among its defenders. Calvin appears to have been the first theologian who propounded the modern distinction between interest and usury.
UTAH