The bible prohibits any interest, not just excessive interest. A loan is supposed to be charity, not a money making opportunity.<p>If someone needs money to open a business or the like, then the lender is supposed to partner/go into business with him, not just lend at interest.<p>You can get around the prohibition by structuring the partnership into something that acts like interest, but the intent of that is for business, it's not intended to replace charity loans.