I’ve heard that “predatory lender” meme for years. I’ve been a volunteer loan officer for a credit union for fifteen years. I’ve reviewed and approved/declined thousands of loans. Every single applicant came in to apply of their own volition. We’ve never held a gun to anyone and made them sign.
As opposed to say, property and income taxes. Try skipping those payments, and the Power of the State is employed against you. Guns, jails, the whole works.
Who are the predators?
I totally agree with you. We have a predatory government and bureaucrats. Lenders, on the other hand, compete for my business.
What I was thinking about was that in the commercial loan sector the focus is really more on doing a job and getting a day's work done --and not as much on the triumph of good over evil. That's why I tend to see loan charge-offs more the result of economics than being caused by people's deadbeat mindsets. My reasoning is that it doesn't make sense to believe so many people decided to forsake character in '09 and then suddenly seek redemption a year later.
