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Apr 09Easy credit.
I’m surprised at how easily I got a loan for Clara. Literally thirty seconds after I handed over my $25 deposit to join the Hopkins credit union, I asked who I should talk to about a loan. The guy typed in my information, my salary (self-provided, and at a job I’ve been at less than a month), and hey presto! Approved!
Admittedly, the loan was chump change in the grand scheme of things–Wachovia doesn’t even offer loans for less than $5000*–but I walked out feeling a little unsettled by the whole thing. Matthew Yglesias felt the same way about his home loan experience:
I got a mortgage back in October and found myself a bit taken aback by how little was involved in it. I gave some information about my income, about the size of the loan I wanted, and about my credit rating. Then in went a formula and out came approval. If someone was asking me for a big loan in the middle of a recession, I would want to know more. Like what’s the guy’s employment situation? Are there decent odds he might get laid off and have his income drop to $0?
I’m being responsible about the whole thing–the loan’s for a year, and I could pay it off in about six months**–but this experience left me feeling a little uneasy. On the plus side, it’s made me realize that I essentially do this every time I take out my credit card.
* Probably to encourage people to use their credit cards. They also won’t loan for vehicles older than 1990.
** Knock on wood.
Tagged: money, personal, vrooooom
April 26th, 2009 at 10:43 am
What’s kind of scary is that if creditors are so quick to approve us for loans, etc–i’m assuming here that you have good credit–what does that say about the folks who they rejected?