"Well how else am I supposed to buy myself a trip to Mars?"
1. Work in wealth management, had a client request a 'loan' from her trust fund. She was attending college and flunking out, she wanted to BUY the private school and fire all the teachers who were 'plotting against her'. Sadly that request was denied.
2. A long time ago I had a temp job in the credit dept of a catalog ordering company. This was prior to omnipresent online credit card use, so large orders phoned in from the catalog were treated as loans. We would pull a credit report and assess the situation.
One guy's order tripped the limits and he was sent my way. Hmm he wants to order ... 2000 window air conditioners? That's very expensive, and seemed odd because if you are a home developer or a retail store and need a lot of inventory, you buy bulk. My catalog company sold to the public.
So I start digging and he lives in Georgia. I looked it up on a map, middle of nowhere. His address is something something trailer court. OK. Also not good.
Bankruptcy declared ... yesterday! lol and the history gets worse as you go back.
So I kill his order and send him the standard letter, and think nothing of it. Until a few months go by. The letter I sent him instructs to call with questions, which is silly, because I can't give out any info on the phone, anyway. Regardless, he calls. I answer the phone. He starts screaming. He starts by screaming. I don't know who he is or what he wants yet. But this is par for the course.
I get him simmered down and am talking to him about why he can't order 2000 air conditioners, without really saying why. He's acting all indignant as if he doesn't have no job and doesn't live in a mobile home and didn't just declare bankruptcy, and wasn't trying to sneak in one more order before the paperwork is filed (he wouldn't have to pay back the "loan" for 2000 air conditioners).
So he gets mopey and says, "aw durn. I was hoping to cool off mah yurd. muggy down here. and hot as a anything."
His plan was to plug in 2000 air conditioners and air condition the outside.
3. Once had a guy try to get a loan to start his business of home pharmaceutical sales.
But here's the kicker: he had (Continued)
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But here's the kicker: he had two previous convictions for hard drugs.
At that point it's like he's not even trying to be clever.
4. Kind of an anti-loan but customer comes in saying they wanted to discuss their car loan.
In reality, once we started discussing the customer tossed the keys and said "It's yours, now stop calling" and left.
5. Oh where to start. Had one customer who wanted to borrow funds to start a theme park based Around tents, no where near other people, with projections that between 600,000 -800,000 people would attend per year. Another customer wanted a loan using his ex wife's house as collateral / on the basis that he had paid for it so it was really his money anyway.
Third customer wanting to borrow funds to start a snow manufacturing and delivery business for Christmas (in rural Australia, where Christmas is held in summer and is rarely under 30 Celsius) Fourth customer wanting to buy a Range Rover while on Centrelink (state welfare) with a non-payment period because she "could use the car to meet someone who could pay for It"
The list goes on.
6. I worked at a call center for credit union. I would tell people balances, take loan applications, etc. So, an elderly man would spend hundreds of dollars a week at a liquor store spending everything in his account. He would call up, obviously drunk, wanting his account balance and wanting to know why his debit card was declined. Well, he spent all his money at the liquor store. So, he would ask for a loan for more money (probably to buy more alcohol.) Because of the law or whatever, we were not allowed to decline him for applying for a loan. So, we had to fill out a loan application, just for him to be not be approved for it obviously. He would apply for loans once, even twice a month. Never approved. I honestly think he was drunk all the time and never remembered applying for loans.
Finally, after, I think a year of this, this issue eventually made it's way up to the head people of the credit union and they decided they would have him come in...with a family member, and discuss his account. I think they had an intervention with him and made a family member present just in case this guy was suffering from dementia and needed family to take over his financials from him (a la power of attorney, etc.) From what I hear, it went good. I never heard of him applying for a loan again, to my knowledge. If he did ever call in again, he was suppose to be sent to a manager for another discussion over the phone.
Not really an absurd reason as it is a sad one.
7. I had three guys come in asking for a loan to buy gasoline. They wanted to buy a ton of gas, store it and resell it after the price went up. They had charts with girls in bikinis on it, and I think they (Continued)
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thought they'd be speaking with a man. It got real weird after that but none the less, I declined their loan request to buy gasoline.
8. I had a young male non-client come set up an appointment for a business loan with a teller. The scheduler notes alluded to an engineering firm so I assumed he was a recent graduate looking for startup capital, generally these loans aren't crazy as they're only looking for 10-20M(thousand) to get things rolling. Boy was I wrong. This kid came in probably no more than 20, slicked back hair, full three piece suit carrying a briefcase. You have to be nice to everyone, but I immediately knew that this was going to be a waste of time.
I sit him down in my office and ask him what he's looking for. He calmly lays down his briefcase and asks me for a TWO BILLION DOLLAR LOAN.
First of all, I'm not even authorized to give more than 250M(thousand). When I asked him why he needed this he said that he wanted to buy all the property in our entire city, demolish it, and rebuild it into a "super city". After immediately declining this spectacular deal, he let's me know that he was really disappointed because he was hoping to quit his job at the grocery store that day.
9. My wife once had this guy walk in to the bank very discreetly. Holding onto his backpack like it was a life vest on the titanic. He was in the bank to try and sell his birth certificate.
BIRTH CERTIFICATE
[deleted]
10. I had a guy call up one time trying to get a loan to build a home for his pet monkeys. They were stinking up his living area and he wanted them to have their own place.
11. I'm just a teller, so I don't deal with loans much. There was one guy who said he just needed $50 until he got paid. And I said, well do you have a credit card? We can do a cash advance. He said no, he needs a loan. I said, I don't think there's anyway we can give you a $50 loan. He said, well can you just give it to me and then take it out of my account when my check comes in? I said, that's not really something we do and probably no one to actually record and monitor it. He looked enraged and said (Continued)
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He looked enraged and said BUT YOU'RE A BANK!! and then stormed off. I just gave my manager the WTF look.
12. Elderly lady came to our small credit union to request a multi-million dollar loan to open a water park. Her "business plan" was handwritten on unlined paper.
She also claimed that she was the divorced wife of a country music star.
13. A 20-something dude who just started out a "career" as "area sales manager" for some MLM scam wanted to buy a Mercedes to "adequately represent his profession / position", something in the range of 60k EUR. Needless to say the loan was denied, and since he had his current account with us, I would check it periodically for the big bucks he claimed would be rolling in soon. Didn't even take 2 months until he was on welfare.
14. I'm a teller, but one time a customer asked me to schedule him an appointment with a financial advisor at our branch because he was seriously considering taking out a loan to purchase a pet parrot....
15. I had one customer who wanted to open a restaurant. she had a good deal of experience managing a restaurant which is great. unfortunately she had nothing planned. not even a location. she walked in to ask about a loan with no idea what she was going to use it for.
16. Just last week I had someone want to apply for a loan so she could go eat at Luby's with her friends.
17. Buying a revenge snake.
A customer walks in. He asks for $200. I asked him why as he was filling out the paperwork. He said his Ex has been breaking into his house almost every night, but she is terrified of snakes. He was going to buy a massive snake and (Continued)
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and sleep with it, until she stops breaking in. If she doesn't he is going to release the snake into her apartment. I gave him a mortified look, worrying that his genius will escape him. He gave me a $5 tip and walked off smugly.
And he went to buy his revenge snake
18. I had a guy come in acting rudely to the greeter, who then referred them over to myself. Guy was in his fifties and looked liked he lived in his car. Proceeds to tell me he needs five thousand dollars to fly to Washington to solve the murder of his son and retrieve the body. He does not want to do any paperwork for this and tells me he's a cocaine dealer, and he wants to leave ten thousand dollars worth of coke for the five grand cash without even showing an ID. He assures me he's a professional and in the 26 years he's been doing it he's only been arrested twice. Though he mentioned he did just get out of jail on unrelated-to-cocaine charges. I had to decline his generous and exciting proposal cause ya know, everything.
19. I had a guy who owned his own multi-level marketing business and was looking for a business development loan.
Mostly for me, the absurd part of peoples request are when they want a business loan because they have an idea they think would work. Yet they have no experience, no capital and insufficient collateral. Sometimes it's a legitimate proposal but they don't have the resources or collateral. Barriers to entry is a hard concept for some to understand.
Then there are the requests that just hard to deal with. I had a lady who needed a loan for only enough to cremate her husband who had just passed away (since it was less expensive). She had terrible credit and basically no income... I made the loan anyway.
20. "I'd like to build a giant space station that can destroy a planet."
21. I used to go out with a girl whose mother was a rep for a high interest doorstep loan company. The customers were generally poor and should not be getting involved in such loans, but she did noooot care, sold the loans and encouraged more - which is Ok I guess, somebody has to.
So anyway she had one customer that was obviously mentally deficient to some degree. He never worked, hardly went out, lived alone and had no real interests of note - mostly just sitting around watching TV, and doing housework (he was happy enough with his simple life).
So he used to get a loan, pay his payment every week and when it was finished, he would take out another. One day she asked him what he was doing with the loans, and his answer was that he put the money in his savings account. If he borrowed 200, by the time the loan was done he maybe had 201. In his eyes it was a genius scheme to make money. The fact that he had paid around 60 in interest was lost on him.
Obviously GF's mother did not take the time to explain his error...
22. We had a customer request a loan for a "possible funeral". They ended up being denied so we didn't get any more of an explanation.
23. Not a banker, but I am a pawnbroker. A frequent customer, who happens to be a gambling addict goes to best buy and buys a brand new 1000 dollar tv on her credit card, brings it to my shop and borrows a few hundred bucks on the tv. Proceeds to go to the casino, wins a bunch of money, comes back and (Continued)
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pays back what she owes me for the tv loan which all things considered is very cheap (like 20 bucks to borrow 300) then returns the tv to best buy so she doesn't have to pay the rates for a cash advance on her card. A long crazy process to get extra gambling cash. I am not even sure its cheaper for her to do it that way than to just get cash on her card. She has done that about 5 times though, we see no reason not to do it but I am certain there are more efficient ways to spend your money.
24. Not a request. But it was a question I received after granting a 71 year old man a loan. He said to me that "How can you assure me that my account isn't going to be hacked with one of those Russian decoder machines" Pensioners these days eh?
25. Client wanted a $60k loan to send the funds to her overseas US boyfriend that she had never met because he was going to pay her back as soon as he got his discharge from the marines.
There had been a mix up with his papers supposedly and they were trying to deploy him to Afghanistan when he was supposed to be retiring and somehow because of this all his money was frozen.
She got the loan and I often wonder about her and hope that it was not a complete crock of turd.
I know she definitely sent him the money as when she came to get the loan she had already sent him over $50k in the last week. Couldn't get a clear answer why he needed so much money other than he was trying to sort things out so he can come be with her.
It was an unusual situation and due to responsible lending I was very apprehensive about doing the loan. Got it cleared with management after we got the client to declare that she fully understood the risks etc.
She was adamant that he was legit.
Note: I understand how so many people can't comprehend how we could morally lend this woman the money.
I honestly tried to discourage her, I know how it sounds and many people here now think I'm an awful person but I did everything in MY power to stop her.
She knew what she was doing. She knew the implications. If I didn't give her the loan she would have got it from someone else. We, being my boss and I, spent plenty of time warning her of scams and the risks. She was absolutely adamant he was her boyfriend and we were worried about nothing.
So we couldn't stop her as there was no reason to deny other than our suspicion. There's no way for us to prove that it was a scam despite how it sounded. At the end of the day you just can't stop some people from making poor decisions, no matter how hard you try to tell them.
26. I am an initial reviewer for loans when they first come in for a VERY large bank
I saw a couple that owned a large bag making company.
On every loan you have to disclose how much money you make every month so the bank can set a fair interest rate.
This couple made a combined total of $500,000 a month and were applying for a house that had an appraised value of $600,000
That made no sense to me to be honest... Like in 2 months you could buy that house.
I have seen a lot of crazy things when it comes to how much people make in certain fields.
if you have any questions ask away!
27. I used to be in consumer lending for a credit union call center and a lady called in one time asking for a personal loan. Our policy was to ask what the funds were going to be used for. When I asked, she said, "I need to buy a bell pepper for dinner." I was sure I misheard her and asked her to explain. So she said, "I am trying to make dinner and it requires a bell pepper. I need the loan to get the bell pepper."
28. To film Lethal Weapon 6
29. Had one guy come in trying to get a loan for a car. He really wanted a brand new Dodge Charger but he was unemployed and in the process of applying for Ontario Works (welfare) I was just a teller but I introduced him to the financial representative that could help him. When she pulled up his credit she saw that he had a loan with another bank that wasn't being paid. He told her that was because the interest they were charging him was bull and he won't pay them back. Needless to say he still doesn't have his Dodge Charger.
30. I once had a man in his early 20's take out a $60k loan to pay for traffic violations he racked up in a 9 month period. Upon further probing, he admitted that he pays around 20-50k a year on speeding tickets and reckless driving citations. I was floored at how he almost seemed chuffed by this.
Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.