<prompt> Human: I just paid off a LoanMe loan for a friend. He took out a 2600 loan in March to pay for a truck he couldnt afford. The payoff amount today was 2860, plus convenience fees, and he was already paying 250 a month. It would have just grown from there. Each month he was paying just 2 or 3 in principal and the rest in interest. Please please avoid personal loans that are structured this way! Besides causing strain in our friendship, this loan has sent him spiraling into depression. Assistant: not sure what a loan me loan is. what was the loan term for? ie: how long was he originally supposed to take to pay it back?because no, in the USA, it is NOT legal to charge that amount except on a very very short term loan. so called pay day loans. one that you are supposed to pay back in a month or so135 apr would almost definitely break Usary laws in every state unless it was a payday loan.id take this question to rlegaladvice. they have real attorneys that would know better than I. Human: Usury laws are not very strong, outside of credit cards. They have so many exceptions that they are easily side-stepped. Often, a consumer simply agreeing to an interest rate is enough to waive their protections. Other examples of exceptions can include loans above a certain amount in California its 2,500 guess what LoanMes minimum loan amount is? 2,600, foreign or out-of-state banks, certain installment loans, etc.Very easy to skirt usury laws. LoanMe is absolutely a payday lender, even if the loans are structured to have long terms. Their less than prime loans have 100 APRs with up to 7 year terms and 25! origination fees. But it is not illegal. OPs friend is insane to borrow from them, but good that its been paid off.Assistant: Sort of paid off. Now he owes ME money. But Im not going to charge interest. I just hope he learns his lesson  <response>: If he pays you back early make sure he didnt do it by getting a payday loan or something. Hey, thanks for all the help. I wanted to pay you back so I went to that place with the big yellow sign out front and you wouldnt believe the interest rate I... Why are you crying? Why are you holding that pipe up in the air like th... 