People see a headline like this and tell you usury isn't a sin.

A Tennesse payday loan company is calling the debts of 110,000 Tennesseans who were taken prey by a predatory 279.5% interest rate.

I mean, taking a loan with a 280% interest rate? Stupid.

Making that loan to take advantage of the stupid? Evil.

Here's ProPublica with more on the lending:

Across Tennessee, Advance has sued over 110,000 people since 2015, significantly more than any other payday lender, making it one of the largest plaintiffs of any Tennessee-based company collecting debt. In Hansen's Appalachian county of 66,000, where nearly half the households make less than $50,000, the company has filed one case per every 32 residents over that time, the Tennessee Lookout and ProPublica found.

Poor mountain folks in Tennessee who need a little money to get by between paychecks find themselves on the bad end of the worst debt deal in history.

And the company Advance is much more litigious than your average lender and they are going to get "their" money.

Advance began filing thousands of lawsuits soon after Tennessee lawmakers approved the Flex Loan, a product pioneered by Advance in Tennessee. The loan's $4,000 cap is nine times higher than the limit for most payday loans, and the company charges the equivalent of a 279.5% annual interest rate. Before Flex Loans became legal in 2015, payday lenders could only lend $425, and the borrower could never be required to pay back more than $500. Since then, those protections have been eliminated and thousands of borrowers have been defaulting.

Tennessee, what are we doing here?

What an insane reality we're living in.