Chapter 386 - Chapter 386: Chapter 378: The Terrifying Usury_1 (1/2)

Chapter 386: Chapter 378: The Terrifying Usury_1

“When does the buyer’s compensation need to be in place?”

Qin Niu asked directly.

The Yan Family was borrowing money from him, obviously because they had seen the large number of congratulatory gifts he had received when he got married recently.

Many bosses came to drink the wedding wine, and the gifts were basically a thousand taels of Silver Money.

This gift, he would certainly have to return in the future.

But it also made Qin Niu’s hands full of ample Silver Money.

“The buyer’s compensation must be paid in full by the end of this month. I won’t hide it from you, the buyer has a big background, with businesses spread throughout the entire Hundred-Tempering Immortal Sect. Not to mention our Yan Family, even those top families in the city wouldn’t dare to offend him.”

Young Master Yan explained so clearly, there was somewhat an attempt to make excuses for the Yan Family.

The main worry was that Qin Niu would look down on them.

“The Yan Family is able to do business with such a big buyer, truly worthy of being an old and powerful clan in the area.”

Qin Niu raised his thumb in praise.

Speaking of wisdom, despite being only sixteen years old, he was a lot stronger than Young Master Yan.

“May I know how many taels of Silver Money does the Yan Family need to borrow?”

He had plenty of Silver Money on hand.

Lending it out could earn him a 50% interest, which was a very profitable deal.

In this world, there are two types of money lending. One is borrowing from a money-changer, with an average annual interest rate of around 60%. Borrow one tael of Silver Money, and a year later you owe one tael and six Wen Money.

Does that sound very dark?

The market is basically like that.

Loans between friends, the interest rate is generally much lower, with an annual interest rate between 40% to 50%.

The darkest are the usurers.

Those who borrow from usurers could sell their sons and daughters and still not necessarily be able to pay it off.

In the end, they may well end up with a destroyed family and lost lives.

Usury’s normal annual interest rates are usually around 100%, borrow one tael of Silver Money, and the second year you repay two Silver Money.

If you can’t pay, then it gets terrifying.

Compound interest upon compound interest can send a debtor plummeting into an abyss.

There are even darker usurious loans, with annual interest rates of 1000%. Borrow one tael of Silver Money, and if it’s not repaid within the stipulated time, the annual interest can soar to a terrifying 1000%.

Equivalent to having to repay a hundred taels the following year.

Those who need to borrow usury are mostly at their wits’ end, with no other options.

Asking them to repay ten times the loan in the second year, nine times out of ten, they can’t pay it back.

It’s common for borrowers to flee.

But wives and children, parents, all will suffer as well.

If the wives and children can’t flee with them, they are mostly caught by the usurers and sold.

The usurers aren’t fools; having lent a large sum of Silver Money to someone, they would certainly have informants secretly watching the borrower’s family.

It’s nearly impossible for the borrower to flee successfully with his family.

Any single suspicious activity, and the lender immediately comes with his thugs.

So, if a debtor wants to flee, the only possibly successful way is to cruelly abandon his parents, children, wife, and escape alone.

Even then, fleeing alone isn’t as easy as one might imagine.

One must shake off the informants and avoid being discovered by the creditor.

Those daring to lend at extortionate rates often have a lot of power locally, with both black and white under their influence. If you think it’s easy to swindle their money, think again.

If caught, you are first beaten up, then have one or two fingers chopped off as punishment, which is standard procedure.

Yan Ruohai of the Yan Family could not possibly be foolish enough to borrow usurious loans.

He must have been out of options to think of turning to Qin Niu for help.

“It’s roughly an eight thousand tael shortfall. If Master Qin is willing to help with this, our Yan Family is prepared to pledge twelve hundred acres of good farmland as security. With the current land prices, good farmland is about nine Silver Money per acre.”

Young Master Yan said.

What people fear most is hardship.

A single Wen Money can stump a hero.

The total amount of Yan Family’s lands is also probably just over a thousand acres.

Presumably no more than one thousand five hundred acres.

This is the wealth the Yan Family has accumulated over several generations.