15 pct pa interest would be the legal margin, as someone said. Euro banks tend to add fees on this. Sometimes the High Courts finds a certain fee illegal, then banksters invent a new one.

Microlending (sometimes called "micro credit") is an international concept in the "Third World" for the poor to raise money, so the monks are under the eyes of the world.

Look at US Dollar notes, what's it say about promise and trust ?

Feel free to answer.

correct! Bangla Desh microlender Muhammad Yunus has been awarded the Nobel Prize for establishing a microlending "bank".

I suggest that people here Google this monk's name before accusing him of being a loan shark, acting counter to the precepts of Buddhism, etc etc. You will see a lot of sources (including books, a report from the Asian Development Bank, and a Nation article from 1996) that all commend him on his work in helping and educating the poor. Countrary to the suggestions made here, he is not personally benefiting from this work. Of course, the cynical folks of Thai visa know better than that and would prefer to heap contempt on the man based on a single brief report and their expertise on all things Thai.

that doesn't change the fact that charging 2% interest per month is illegal in Thailand.

I've always understood that usury, that is the charging of ANY interest on a loan, is not only condemned in the Bhuddist belief but also considered a sin in most other religions..................

so where is the incentive to lend ??