Loan Shark

Since the 1800s, loan sharks have been a way of microfinancing or securing both small and large loans not otherwise accessible to many in the United States. The difference between loan sharking and a legitimate loan entail (a) the interest rate, in that the former charges what many would deem an excessive interest rate (e.g., 20 percent per week); (b) the consequences associated with failure to repay the loan; and (c) whether or not the business is cash only. Failure to repay a loan shark’s loan as scheduled can lead to harm—namely, embarrassing exposure, vandalism, threat of harm, and, in rare cases, physical harm to the borrower. Unlike media portrayals of [Page 1044]broken limbs and homicide, real-life loan sharks need their debtors’ collateral, which is ...