What’s my name?
Posted by Pete | Posted in News | Posted on 14-07-2010
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Many years ago I worked with a very nice fellow down in Carlsbad, NM…A colorful fellow who could tell very good stories and every day seems like he had a good story to tell. My favorite story went like this: He was sent down from Denver to be the new terminal manager for Continental Airlines. He was a young man, new family and pretty near broke. He needed some money very badly to move his family to Carlsbad and set up house keeping. Some of the Carlsbad residents told this fellow that the banker he was using was very tight and critical about loaning money and to get a loan from him was like pulling teeth. He felt like he should use them as they were the bank his company used. He had never had a loan before and was scared as he could be about the upcoming encounter with this banker to try and secure a loan to move his family. Never-the-less, he charged on and he was scared and concerned waiting for the banker to see him. Sure enough, the banker raked him over the coals about savings, managing his money, repaying loans and the need for bankers to verify the character of the individuals borrowing money and on and on went the lessons of being a good citizen but he finally said, “well, ok, you seem like you will be a good risk, now what did you say your name was?” He told me he thought and thought, thinking “now what the hell is my name” and his name would not come to him. He said, “Sir, you talked me out of borrowing any money” and walked out of the bank. He got outside the bank and thought, “what the hell is my name?’ Shortly, he said he snapped his fingers and said, “oh yeah” saying his own name out loud. He said, “So, I went across the street and borrowed the money from the other bank in town.”…. I have laughed at that story every time I think of it. I also borrowed money from that banker and he was tough. Folks around town still remember who it is….If you are familiar with Carlsbad, you know you have to go back many, many years to find when Continental Airlines served them, huh? I think it was just after the Air Base closed there just after WWII..I hope you liked the story…Pete
This story distinctly has a fishy sound to it. When I was young, every time that I went into a bank to borrow money, whether it was for the purchase of a car, a home, or simply to pay school expenses, I had to fill out a mountain of paper work, which included my name, SS#, and a bunch of other personal information, before I ever got in to see a bank officer, who had sufficient clout to grant a loan. In addition, I always had to have at least three co-signers from both family members and from outstanding people in the cummunity. In my experience, if the guy couldn’t remember his name, he would have never gotten in to see a bank officer in the first place. In order for a story to be good, it must be reasonable. This one is not reasonable.
I am as impatient with stories like these as I am with young people who flunk out of Occidental College because of alcohol and drug addiction, and then scramble around to get financial backing from strange and illegal sources to go to named colleges, like Columbia and Harvard Law School, and then succeed in getting themselves elected President while spending millions of dollars to keep their personal records hidden.
It was told to me as a true story and your impatients has nothing to do with it. Sorry you wasted your time reading it. At that time one got loans by talking to a loan officer. That was also how I did it. Only after the world become so complicated did the hand shake not, repeat not, seal a deal.
Maybe so! I was simply saying that I, as well as probably most people, always had to fill out a mountain of paper work as well as have co-signers before even talking to a loan officer at a bank. I suppose it was different for people who worked for recognized corporations, like Continental Airlines, than it was for ordinary people from poduck rural communities and especially for eighteen year olds and unmarried singles in their twenties.
By the way, my impatients does have something to do with my reading stories which are (or seem) unreasonable.
I remember Mr Patty, he also gave me a lecture before he had me fill out any papers, but I didn’t forget my name, I was just so nervous, I could hardly say anything.
This one banker in Carlsbad was probably a very nice guy, but us young men raising family and taking every penny we made every week, loans were fairly common…we were all scared to death each time we had to face him…the fear factor kept the amount of loans down. After our mine got a credit union, things changed quite a bit. We got our loans there.. Thanks Don
Maybe I’m being silly but if lending guidelines were still as strict as you and this other gentleman faced ‘a few years ago’ our nation wouldn’t have the economic problems it is faced with now. Perhaps this Carlsbad Loan Officer man should have passed his ‘scare tactics’ on to other representatives and lending institutions; if so, I don’t think I’d be so worried to use the financial institutions and savings/investing options available to me today.
-K Jo
PS: Errol, could you please cite the references you use for your responses? There have been a number of times I’ve read your comments and wonder where you get such information. Additionally, if such stories seem unreasonable to you, rather than criticizing the author you should simply stop reading and keep your comments to yourself. I, personally, don’t care what the story is, if it’s 100% truth, or somewhat fiction; I love the fact that my Grand-Pappy blogs and shares his wonderful stories and thoughts with the world.
Oh, my darling grand daughter…you are grand and so special but thanks for sticking up for your old grand pappy. Love you honey,,,,Paps