One-third of all credit card holders in the United States pay interest rates above 20 percent. Credit card rates now run as high as 41 percent -- almost double the highest interest rate charged in 1990. Recently, some major institutions, such as Bank of America, have informed responsible cardholders that their interest rates would be doubled to as high as 28 percent, without offering any explanation or excuse why the increase was taking place. This is usury.

Other modern forms of usury include:

-Payday loans charging an annualized rate of over 300%.

-Adjustable-rate mortgages with interest rates ballooning up to 14%.

-Rapid-refund tax return companies that charge 50% of the customer's tax return for a two-month advance - or up to a 300% annualized rate.

-Credit card companies that raise rates as high as 30% without reason or notification, and add on fees for both good behavior and bad. (The recent credit card reform law signed by President Obama in 2009 mandates that credit card companies notify the consumer of interest rate increases, but does not limit how much interest they can charge).

-Banks that charge $50 or more for "overdraft protection" - essentially a high-rate loan for the amount of the overdrawn check. US banks will collect a record $38.5 billion in overdraft fees this year, with nearly all the revenue paid by just 10% of customers. The windfall is nearly double the $19.9 billion collected in 2000. More on this from CNN.

-Check-cashing fees of 10% that are in effect exorbitant interest on the two-day period it takes for the check cashing agency to clear the customer's check.

The Metro Industrial Areas Foundation (Metro IAF) is a network of 17 broad-based citizens organizations in the United States and Europe that has launched a worldwide campaign against the usurious pratices of global finance. It could be one of the most exciting social movement to come out of the global financial crisis: a movement to cap interest rates at 10%. This video captures the birth of the movement -- on July 22nd, when simultaneous rallies were held in five American cities and across the pond in London putting some of the world's largest banks on notice.

Recently, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has been turning up the heat on this issue:

We need a national law because state laws no longer work. States used to protect consumers from predatory lenders, but strong state usury laws were obliterated by a 1978 U.S. Supreme Court decision. Justices allowed national banks to charge whatever interest rate they wanted if they moved to a state without an interest rate cap. So major credit card issuers moved to places such as South Dakota and Delaware that don't have usury laws.

That is why I have introduced legislation to require any lender in this country to cap all interest rates on consumer loans at 15 percent, including credit cards. Why did I select 15 percent as the appropriate rate to deal with the usury that is going on in this country? The reason is that 15 percent is the maximum that Congress imposed on credit union loans almost 30 years ago when it amended the Federal Credit Union Act. That approach has worked! Under current law, credit unions are allowed to charge higher interest rates only if their regulator, the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), determines that it is necessary to maintain the safety and soundness of these institutions. Right now, while most credit unions charge lower rates, the NCUA allows credit unions to charge an interest rate as high as 18 percent.

Unlike their counterparts at the big banks, credit unions are not lining up for hundreds of billions in bailouts. In fact, they're doing quite well. They are responding to the credit needs of the small businesses in their communities and to individuals. They have not only survived this regulation, but also they are functioning exactly the way they are supposed to function. In my view, the rules that have worked well for credit unions for decades can work for all financial institutions.

Former Senator Al D'Amato in 1991 offered an amendment to cap credit card interest rates at 14 percent. The amendment passed the Senate by a vote of 74 to 19, but never became law. Now is the time to return to that debate. Now is the time to protect a struggling middle class and pass legislation to put a cap on interest rates.

Now is indeed the time. Learn more and get involved at 10 Percent is Enough.