Extortionate moneylending (5)
I believe the answer is:
usury
'extortionate moneylending' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
This is all the clue.
(Other definitions for usury that I've seen before include "High-interest lending" , "Extortionate lending" , "Taking a lot of interest" , "Loaning money at high interest" , "Taking excessive interest" .)