Quote from: Bren;784510In my experience, players usually don't want to have their characters pay the sort of interest rates that any reasonably intelligent lender would place on a loan to people of their sort. Most PCs don't own property or tangible assets, have no fixed abode, travel a lot, and are engaged in a high risk profession. So their interest rate is going to be very high to account for the risk.

+1.  

I've had players ask, of course, but like with Bren's experience, many have the notion that the interest rates should be in line with modern-day prime lending rates, rather than at levels making current payday loan interest rates look mild.

Two of my players have loans out, right now.  One is a war hero resigned to paying his usurious mortgage rate.  The other was, at the time of the loan, a landowner who was a protege of the Emperor and married to his cousin, the Admiral of the Imperial Navy; she's since been named governor of the empire's capital city, and is likely considered a good risk.  

a few times.

One must first have, as Tenbones recommended, a firm grasp on the economics of the setting.  Secondly, one must determine ahead of time what level of economic sophistication exists, and what level of taxation and types of taxation are there.  

Borrowing from or through one's guild is easier than borrowing from one of the banks or syndicates, and the interest rates and collateral can be very high.  Defaulting on payment is a criminal offense, as well, in many places.

In a setting where the PCs regularly run businesses or play heavy politics, being able to borrow money only makes sense.

In RuneQuest (Chaosium's 1st/2nd editions), I found that almost every character started at age 15 (and not a rich noble) went into debt right away to get skill training and possibly a spell or two. In the campaigns I played, loans could also be taken to purchase equipment.

Older characters created with the "background experience" rules were less likely to go that route.

In Traveller, starting with a starship usually means starting with a mortgage.

In old D&D, MUs are commonly lenders to other characters early on, since they have less need of equipment.

Quote from: Ravenswing;784840+1.  

I've had players ask, of course, but like with Bren's experience, many have the notion that the interest rates should be in line with modern-day prime lending rates, rather than at levels making current payday loan interest rates look mild.

Two of my players have loans out, right now.  One is a war hero resigned to paying his usurious mortgage rate.  The other was, at the time of the loan, a landowner who was a protege of the Emperor and married to his cousin, the Admiral of the Imperial Navy; she's since been named governor of the empire's capital city, and is likely considered a good risk.  

In RuneQuest, defaulting on a loan of the sort commonly made to adventurers will open a can of whupass from the gods. You will pay, one way or another!

I did, yes, but they were lending from a demigod, to do a job they were actually hired, so let's just say the loan was easily granted, as they had good coverage in, well, being hired to do a certain task.

If you want to be a mean DM and play around with economics more, use money shortage - a shortage of actual minted coin in pre - paper/modern banking society. This'd force the PCs into loans not really to invest money, but to just hold cash for actual deals on the road.

In spite of prohibitions on Usury, it was certainly something that commonly happened in medieval society (hence the ongoing attempts to ban it).  

In my games, I've occasionally had characters take out loans, usually with the expected hilarious results.

Do keep in mind too that in medieval loans, it was not at all uncommon to have rates of interest of 100% or more.

Quote from: RPGPundit;787058In spite of prohibitions on Usury, it was certainly something that commonly happened in medieval society (hence the ongoing attempts to ban it).

Pace my old ancient & classical law prof, "If you want to know what's going on in a society, look at what's outlawed.  Nobody writes a law to stop something that nobody's doing."

At the end of the Serpent of Venice, Christopher Moore discusses the character of Shylock, the concepts of usury and the treatment of Jews in that time period.   If you are looking to incorporate banking and loans I do recomend both the author's notes and the book itself.

And remember! When everyone in the kingdom's in heavy debt to the moneylenders, it's time for expulsion/witchcraft trials!

Quote from: Rincewind1;787141And remember! When everyone in the kingdom's in heavy debt to the moneylenders, it's time for expulsion/witchcraft trials!

How democratic. Usually it doesn't take everyone in debt, just enough of the powerful in debt.

Quote from: Bren;787155How democratic. Usually it doesn't take everyone in debt, just enough of the powerful in debt.

Or the right people.  The whole aristocracy doesn't need to be in hock too deep for the pogroms to start; all it takes is the monarch.

Then again, the rationale behind that I firmly believe PCs should almost never be the richest people around is simple: if you have gold, the ruler will tax it away.  If you resist, his army will come to stomp you.  If you are unstompable, then you are the ruler.

Quote from: Ravenswing;787196Or the right people.  The whole aristocracy doesn't need to be in hock too deep for the pogroms to start; all it takes is the monarch.

If the monarch had the power to do that. Though I suspect most monarchs where not sufficiently absolute in their rule to get rid of the money lenders without strong support from the noblity or other elements of the country and thoughtful rulers (or their finance ministers) tried to ensure they had a new group of creditors in the wings  before getting rid of the old creditors.

Did someone say Knight's Templars?

I don't necessarily recall anyone taking a loan; I think I've seen PCs ask about it before but the terms were usually too steep for them.

In my D&D Bronze Age game, the group did trade with a moneylender NPC  but only to exchange coins. He gave them progressively worse exchange rates as they used up his platinum reserves.

He also acted as a bank. The PCs were less than thrilled when he charged them various transaction and account fees every time they did anything with the accounts.

It got really ugly when one of the group died and they found out their banking contract relinquished all monies from deceased customers to the bank. They eventually concoct a scheme to have a new PC pose as a relative, though they still got hit with a transfer fee.

The breaking point was when they couldn't access their money because the shop was closed for one of the moneylender's holy days. They left a threatening note on the door with a dagger, causing the moneylender to abscond with all of their money.

I admit, I had a lot of fun messing with the group with that NPC (who was an over the top stereotype to begin with).

Quote from: Skyrock;787338Did someone say Knight's Templars?

The debts that the King of France and others had to the Knights Templar was hardly a "conspiracy theory".  The conspiracy-theory is the idea that the Templars actually had some kind of secret wisdom that the Pope wanted to get rid of.