Man St. or Wall St.

Many of the headlines for the past few weeks have dealt with problems at banks, especially after the failure at IndyMac Bank in Pasadena, CA and the near meltdown of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

[chetthejet]

If I wasn't from the area, I would be inclined to believe this flowery speech, but I've seen first-hand, denials of "locals" when it came to obtain a loan from a local bank that had been using local money to make money for years. So who got the loans? Well, I'll have to admit, "local" folks, only, the ones with those well-known last names. Small town Americans know what I'm talking about. Good luck with the book and the tour. Us small-town folk would buy a copy, but can't get a "local" loan.

[A local too]

Banks make money by making good loans. They don't make money by making risky loans. In fact, when they do, they end up just like the one's we are now reading about in the paper.

There is huge competition for loans in the local area. I would try several banks. If you continue to get turned down, I'm not sure you can blame it on the banks. They are in competition with each other, and are typically fighting to get a loan - not turn it away.

[chetthejet]

A local too wrote:

Banks make money by making good loans. They don't make money by making risky loans. In fact, when they do, they end up just like the one's we are now reading about in the paper.
There is huge competition for loans in the local area. I would try several banks. If you continue to get turned down, I'm not sure you can blame it on the banks. They are in competition with each other, and are typically fighting to get a loan - not turn it away.

Wasn't talking about myself, so maybe I chose different words, but on that note, I went to a local car lot in need of a business vehicle, at the time, about $25-grand. The dealership called over to see about a loan from my bank, one which I'd used for several years with several accounts and had about $300-grand in at the time. Turned down--flat. It was nearby, so I simply walked over, extracted the 25, and paid cash, not having gotten the loan. There were reasons for taking a loan which obviously was for not. Next day, a whole lot more money exited that bank. Some of us are local, yes, but I'd consider myself an outsider. Small-town folk know what I'm talking about. Hang around long enough, and you might, too.

[A local too]

Did you happen to ask your bank why they turned you down for the loan? That seems incredible that you would have $300k in the bank and they would turn you down. Sometimes talking with the bank that turned you down will provide invaluable information on the reasons.

Some reasons are:
A felony conviction
A former bankruptcy

At the same time, I thought most car dealerships do a loan through their own finance departments (like GMAC, etc.). I wonder why they called the local bank instead.