Academic and political discussions about micro‐finance have been found lacking in predictive power, because they are based on orthodox economic theory, which does not properly comprehend the social components of credit. I take a better approach, utilizing credit theory – specifically, Ingham's explication of how the nature of money as credit leads to social inequality. I also expound the perspective that morality is not separate from considerations borrowers make in micro‐finance programmes on the micro level. I draw upon illustrations from my fieldwork in rural China, where a group‐lending micro‐finance programme was administered as part of a larger government‐initiated effort across the country.