 The rate of interest upon a special contract may be, and often is, high.For the matter of that, indeed, this system of obtaining loans is always expensive, either in actual interest or in collateral disadvantages, whether the lender be a pawnbroker intent upon profit, or the official of a "mont de pit".The "montes de piedad" were undermined by the French Revolution but were re-established under French dominion, and for many years the laws governing them were altered by the French, Dutch and Belgian governments.