Mortgage Help   Mortgage Rates Real Estate Credit Foreclosure Tax
	Debt Consolidation Loan Shark Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 13 bankruptcy How bankruptcy affect student loans Managing your debt Myths and misconceptions about bankruptcy About bankruptcy New bankruptcy laws Types of debt Debt Consumer Debt Loan Shark Loan Default Usury Predatory Lending Abusive or Unfair Lending Practices Statute of Limitations A loan shark is a person or body that offers illegal unsecured loans at interest rates higher than the normal, to individuals, usually also backed by blackmail or threats of violence. They provide credit to those who cannot obtain it from the respectable sources in the regular stream, usually owing to inability to meet the eligibility criteria and because interest rates commensurate with the perceived risk are illegal. In much of history, usury laws have made loan sharks commonplace and many moneylenders tend to operate between legal and extra-legal activity. In the western world in recent years, loan sharks have been a feature of the criminal underworld, but are otherwise rare. Payday loans and other aspects of consumer finance have helped make true loan sharks rarer, though some legitimate lenders have been accused of behaving in an exploitative manner. For example, many banks practice usurious lending by authorizing bank card transactions for amounts greater than the account holder's legit account balance, and demand a fee for this service called the Over Draft facility. In the world of paper check, the bank was not involved with the transaction until well after this. However, with the coming of Bank Cards which can be a credit card, debit card or check card and other electronic transfers, the bank has the final say in authorizing or declining the transaction, and many authorize transactions well beyond the account balance for the sole purpose of charging the overdraft fee, which is generally well in excess of the maximum interest rate permitted by the state in which the bank operates. Payday loan operations have also come under scanner for charging inflated service charges for the service of cashing a payday advance which is effectively a short-term loan which is to be repaid within no more than one or two weeks, for which charges may run from 3 to 5% of the principal amount. By claiming to be charging for the service of cashing a pay check before waiting for it to actually clear, instead of merely charging interest for a short-term loan, the laws which regulate money lending costs strictly can be effectively and easily bypassed.