Sir, – In the good old days your friendly building society levied a hefty early redemption charge in the event that inconveniently (for the institution) one sought to repay one’s loan early.
Notwithstanding that the redeemed capital was lent on as a matter of course, self-servingly, the lending institution deemed itself entitled to a chunk of the future profit it had bargained on had the original deal gone the distance.
In a word, usury – an abuse of power in one of its many guises. Today we read that the Government may encounter resistance on the part of the IMF and/or of individual EU member states, in the event that it should seek early redemption of its bailout loans as an exercise in reducing interest charges currently clocking in at more than twice market rates.
Preposterous. Perhaps a strategic revisiting of the default option would bring common sense to bear? On the other hand, if only one knew a little more about economics! – Yours, etc,
OWEN MORTON,
Station Road,
Sutton,
Dublin 13
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