The loan, from its history, to its social function and to its evolution at the time of the internet:

Loan and its history

Loan and its history

Miss Havisham are not a creation of modern finance, but have ancient roots and have experienced an incredible evolution.

The first Miss Havishams date back to the Sumerian times and were made of metal and wheat. The interest was the price to be paid for the use of the loaned capital, given by the difference between the sum to be returned at maturity and the sum received from the creditor. The first protesters of the interest date back to the Old and New Testaments and to the Koran (consumer associations did not yet exist…).

The religion that has often condemned interest is however among the forces that gave life and importance to the concept of loan. The mountains of piety, were in fact strongly desired by the Franciscans, they allowed the credit behind a pawn or the payment of a small sum. With the Lutheran reform and Calvino the payment of interest takes shape and with the French revolution and the civil code of 1804, the loan contract comes to life that will be well defined by Irving Fisher with the theory of interest in 1830.

Despite its millennial origins, it is still difficult to understand closely the notions of capitalization (simple or compound interest), of tan and taeg and of usury that represent the pillars of the loan concept as we know it today.

Miss Havisham have a specific function, namely to provide liquidity to the consumer for the purchase of a good and service. This is a loan, provided by specialized institutes (banks and financial institutions registered in the appropriate register at the Bank of Italy) against an interest rate that can vary based on a series of parameters: cost and reliability of the customer, concession purposes and amortization period.

The credit obtained thanks to a loan performs basic functions. It makes potential future revenue available for present needs, such as expenses for physical assets, training, business start-ups or health care. Moreover, it mitigates the problems deriving from a reduction in the work income and therefore allows the subject to participate in economic life.

Credit increases national well-being, raises the level of consumer satisfaction by giving them greater purchasing power. As a financial instrument, the loan is neither good nor bad, but it is the use made of it that determines its positive or negative aspects. Among the negative aspects, how not to consider a phenomenon that in recent years has affected many families, that of over-indebtedness, which has forced many subjects to deprive themselves of material goods and has seen them excluded from the economic circuit.

The jurisdiction has not been watching and has intervened over the years with ad hoc measures, for example by prohibiting the usury, the concession contrary to the good morals, the exploitation of the state of necessity, the anatocism and contributing to the inclusion of basic principles such as transparency, fairness and good faith.

Legislation and the world of information have contributed to product transparency and set the lines for the concept of responsible credit. Consumers are advised to read the information carefully and rely solely on serious and qualified operators.

Operators that are not only banks and financial companies, but that the world of the network and social media has modified by creating new 2.0 operators and new distribution channels. Platforms have been active on the market for years, real virtual squares where offer and demand of Miss Havisham between private individuals and representing the phenomenon of social lending, a form of disintermediation that is taking hold in our country too.

The network does not only offer space for social lending, but it is a flywheel of the participatory loan, the so-called crowdfunding.. The idea is shared and more people can support it by joining the project even with small amounts.

The network has triggered the era of bank disintermediation, it is not “said the barter does not return! ?? The crisis has taught us an important thing about the concept of credit: a bad debt remains unrecoverable even if broken up and hidden here and there there.