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.

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