Lending practices that are abusive to the lender or coerce the borrower to accept unfair terms are known as what?

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Predatory lending refers to lending practices that often involve deceitful or abusive strategies aimed at the borrower. This type of lending typically results in the borrower being forced into unfair terms, such as high-interest rates, exorbitant fees, or loans they cannot afford to pay back. Predatory lenders often exploit the vulnerabilities of individuals, particularly those with poor credit histories or low-income backgrounds, capitalizing on their need for financing without providing adequate transparency about the loan conditions.

In contrast, usurious lending specifically pertains to the practice of charging excessively high-interest rates, which may or may not be predatory in nature. Subprime lending deals with offering loans to those with less-than-perfect credit but does not inherently imply the exploitative practices associated with predatory lending. High-interest lending describes the rate charged for certain loans, which can be legitimate when transparently communicated, but it does not necessarily involve manipulation or coercion of the borrower. Therefore, the term that encompasses these harmful practices distinctly is predatory lending.