This is a story from my dad.
During a recession he applied for a small personal loan for a few thousand dollars from his bank. He had excellent credit, was a homeowner, stable job, yadda yadda. His loan approval should’ve sailed through easily.
But because of the recession, the bank was trying to be extra careful about loaning out money. A loan officer called him to review his paperwork, and asked him what he was going to spend the loan on.
Dad was pissed. He said it’s a PERSONAL loan, and it’s none of their business what he’s going to do with it. It’s personal.
The bank dude was really nice, he explained the situation and said he’s just doing his job. He had to fill out paperwork, one of the spaces required that he writes what dad was going to do with the money.
Dad said, “Ok, when I get the money, I’m going to take it all out of the bank in cash, go home, open my window and throw it all outside.”
He found out a few days later he was approved for the loan.
When I was in my my twenties, a few months into my first full time career job, I felt like I could splurge a little to celebrate. The problem was my credit card was stuck at “college student” limits, basically useless, and my salary was still going toward the basics of setting up my independent life.
My attempt to raise my credit limit was rejected, my attempt at a personal loan was rejected. Maybe they would have anyway, maybe I just needed to wait more, but I regret answering “buy a nice stereo”. It does sound like the epitome of careless spending to buy electronic gadgets beyond your immediate means. Even back then, your answer mattered.
The reason I’m convinced it mattered was replaying my conversation with my credit union in my head years later: it surely seemed like she was politely trying to get me to give a different answer.