I can see many reasons why lending money at interest is a really bad thing, the main one being that over time it concentrates wealth into the hands of a very few, very wealthy individuals who have no democratic accountability.
It was recently announced that the average UK household has £77,000 of personal debt. Anyone got figures for the US or unhappy Japan?
Surely, in the circumstances, foregoing (at least) the interest is the ethical choice? (Who do we owe it all to anyway?)
Is it ethical to lend money for interest at all?

No, but capitalism isn't supposed to be ethical. "It's the economy, stupid".

Biblically, lending with interest is supposed to be prohibited. Also, certain things aren't meant to be taken as security for a loan, such as things the borrower needs to produce income or to survive.

Also, it doesn't actually make much physical sense. There's a physical limit on the amount of resources on the planet, so saying "i'll give you 10 resources if you give me back 11" means that there's always going to be more promised/owed resources than actually exist, hence the devaluation of currency to correct this impossibility.

Every time someone takes out a loan at interest, they're either (A.) promising that more currency will magically appear into circulation, or (B.) taking part in a kind of pyramid scheme where the money has to keep circulating between debtors.

I watched my fair share of Judge Judy episodes as a kid and lending money to people rarely ends well even if you aren't charging interest!

I don't see why it would be unethical. Two parties of their own free will enter into a contract for the benefit of both. Party A receives a lump sum of money upfront which would not otherwise be available (to buy a home, car, start a business), and party B is compensated for the risk of default and for the opportunity cost of the loaned money that could otherwise be invested.

Seems like both parties can benefit. Now I can see that some people might be upset after they borrow a million bucks to buy a home and run up their credit cards, then realize that they don't really like paying for what they've bought, but that's just tough luck.

The choice isn't between loaning money with interest or loaning money without interest, it's between loaning with interest and no loans at all. For who would loan any money at all if there was no benefit?

The choice isn't between loaning money with interest or loaning money without interest, it's between loaning with interest and no loans at all. For who would loan any money at all if there was no benefit?

Comrade Christ?

Non-capitalist societies?

No, but capitalism isn't supposed to be ethical.

Who does the supposing?

There's a physical limit on the amount of resources on the planet,

Actually, that's the main reason why I distrust loans for interest - 'sustained economic growth' just can't work in a finite system.

For who would loan any money at all if there was no benefit?

This is where the ethics come in: Who would feed a starving man if there was no benefit? People in need do not have 'free will' to choose who will help them.

I don't see anything wrong with the principle of lending. The lender gives $X to the borrower right now, in return for receiving $(X + Y) over time. It's a good deal for the borrower if having those extra assets or whatever they want to do with that $X for that time is worth paying the extra $Y later on. As long as everyone is upfront about the nature of the deal, it's perfectly fine to me.

[color=#1C2837][size=2]Is it ethical to lend money for interest?[/quote]

[color=#1C2837][size=2]There is an expression, "like nailing jello to the wall". That describes the nature of this type of ethics debate.

I think we could get some things to stick to the wall (lending is necessary in our society, and in our society lending requires interest) but the actual collections of individual ethos will necessarily mean that the end result will be very messy and unsatisfying.

Is it ethical to lend money for interest at all?

Is it ethical to put your money in a savings account on a bank ?
Thats you lending the bank your money and them paying you interest on it.

The reason they do it is that having money makes it easier to make money (They can in turn invest your money).

While more money doesn't magically enter into circulation additional wealth is created constantly at a higher and higher pace(as population grows and technology improves so does production) and money is just a human creation, we can create as much of it as we need. a planted tree will grow and increase in value as it does so, Cutting the tree down and turning the timber into houses or other goods further increases its value, Thus more money has to be pushed into the system to keep the relative value of money from increasing. (in an optimal economy the value of money decreases at a slow but steady pace).

As we want the value of money to decrease slowly (to encourage people to spend/invest the money they have) interest on loans become required as otherwise the lender would lose value.
In a capitalist society it is also natural for the lender to want to gain value by lending the money (which is why interest rates are always higher than the inflation), if there was no interest to be had by lending the money to someone it would be better to spend that money on something that will increase in or create value (Such as buying a farm or a factory).

And yes, Jesus Christ was a commie and if everyone was just like him then communism would actually work without having a dictator at the top forcing everyone to work hard for the benefit of others.

I can see many reasons why lending money at interest is a really bad thing, the main one being that over time it concentrates wealth into the hands of a very few, very wealthy individuals who have no democratic accountability.
It was recently announced that the average UK household has £77,000 of personal debt. Anyone got figures for the US or unhappy Japan?
Surely, in the circumstances, foregoing (at least) the interest is the ethical choice? (Who do we owe it all to anyway?)
Is it ethical to lend money for interest at all?

It's obviously ethical to lend people money and charging interest - you'd have to take a really hard to defend extremist position to argue otherwise. I think the real question is whether it's ethical to lend money to people who can't afford it. If you can afford a loan, then the interest isn't an issue because you can afford it (by definition). If you can't afford it, but you "need" the money (often for big screen TVs in developed countries...) then the lender has a difficult issue to consider from both an ethical and financial situation.

You can see the ramifications of making the wrong decision quite clearly in what happened during the 2008 financial crisis, or what's happening in countries like Greece and Portugal now. It's really sad and ruins people's lives on both sides.

EDIT (needed to add this):
Contrast this with good lending, such as microlending in developing countries. Farmers borrow a small (by developed countries' standards) amount of money to purchase a plot of land, goats, etc. They start a small sustainable business to feed their family and help their community. The business makes money, and they pay back the loan. The interest goes towards making more loans available to people wanting to start their own business, the borrower still has their small business making money after the loan is repaid, and the country develops. This is good lending and is absolutely vital for prosperity.

You can quickly see how the risk is entirely on the lender in this situation - if the borrower defaults on the loan they're really no worse off than before, but the lender is out all the money. It takes balls to start lending for good.