Not everyone who needs some money has the most convincing story. Some of these stories are, in fact, outlandish.
Just in case you don't know this yet: You can't ask for a loan to pay off debt you already owe the bank. And you certainly can't write off cosmetic surgery as a business expense.
We figure most of you know this stuff, though, so you'll appreciate today's burning question from Redditor Moxman73, who asked the online community, "Bankers/Lenders of Reddit, what is the most bizarre loan you have seen people apply for?"
"Someone called in..."
I work in 401(k) administration. You can take a loan out on your 401(k) depending on how the plan is set up.
One of the provisions for many plans is that you can take a $5000 loan if you have a baby or adopt.
Someone called in asking to take a loan because their friend had a baby. Ummmmm, what? No, we won't give you $5000 whenever someone you know has a child.
"He closed his accounts..."
I worked as a bank teller in college. My branch had a guy try to take out a $60,000 personal loan to help his girlfriend in Russia pay off border control so she could finally come join him in the US after a two-year exclusively text-based relationship. No matter what we said, he remained firmly convinced that she existed and was in love with him and that the $30,000 he'd already sent "her" was money well spent.
We didn't give him the loan. He closed his accounts on the spot, taking the entire <1,000 he had left with him.
"She wanted to draw down..."
An older lady wanted to draw down $100k to send to her friend in South Africa that she had never met, we kept declining the application and eventually had to get her Son involved because she refused to believe she was getting scammed. I think he ended up trying to get POA on her accounts. She wasn't all there.
"I used to practice..."
I used to practice the art of personal loans, someone wanted $10,000 to buy a ranch in Tennessee, and we were in L.A., so I asked him how he planned to buy a ranch in Tennessee with only $10k. He then ran away without a word. To this day I still wonder what he really would have done with the 10k if I had given it to him.
"One of my coworkers..."
One of my coworkers had a customer get approved for a business credit card and he quickly used that to spend 10k on breast enhancement for his wife.... When we asked him how this could even be considered a business expense he told us, "Well she's in sales..."
"So we had a guy..."
So we had a guy come in wanting a car loan for a used diesel truck. The truck was 15k.
Unfortunately the truck had high milage and his credit wasn't the greatest and we could only approve him for 6k and 15% interest. It was not a good loan and I told the customer as much. I advised finding a lower mileage, newer vehicle and waiting six months to repair minor credit issues in order to get a lower interest rate.
He insisted on getting that truck right that very moment. He proceeded to tap into his retirement funds. Probably paid some insane penalties and taxes, paid the 9k down payment and signed the paper work for the loan.
Three months later he sold the truck at a loss.
"I once had an older client..."
Former Client Facing Banker, I finally have stuff to contribute to an Askreddit! I have a couple weird ones:
- Not a new loan/credit issuance, but I once was reviewing my book and noticed a clients HELOC was nearing the end of its draw period; I did a little digging hoping to make some cash on a refinance and noticed that well over 20k had been drawn in the last 12 months in unusually small transaction amounts (under $20), turns out candy crush can just freaking wreck your finances...
- I once had an older client (75+) come in looking to apply for a business loan to help develop a video game. Being a closeted nerd, naturally I asked what kind of game, and there I heard the most scattered video game concepts in the world. Apparently it was inspired by Ready Player One, but honestly it just sounded like second life. I mentioned that and I then proceeded to have to listen to an old man talk about the weird sex stuff he experiences playing second life. I'm pretty sure I blacked out for a few seconds in my office from the awkwardness.
"A woman called asking..."
A woman called asking for a personal loan to pay the negative balance in her account that she owed us.
"He had a guy..."
Giphy
We had a guy who needed just a little more money to catch the Sasquatch. He had a guy that was willing to pay him billions of dollars once he caught it.
It sounds like a joke but the guy was dead serious.
"Gentleman came into my small local credit union..."
Gentleman came into my small local credit union to apply for a car loan. Great, what kind of car is it? "A Jeep." Awesome! What's the exact model? "Uh, it's custom." Well, what year is it? "1989." Oh, hmm, a little on the older side... And the mileage? "Not sure, the guy I'm buying it from is in [different state]." Oh, I'm sorry sir, it would have to be registered in-state. "Oh. Well, do you know how to register a monster truck with the DMV?" ...Excuse me? "Yeah, the Jeep's been converted to a monster truck. I'm not just gonna drive it around." Oh... I'm so sorry, we won't be able to finance your... out-of-state, vintage, monster truck.
