Joe Bass
Joe Bass
Aug 31, 2018 · 3 min read

The largest problem with any young person is we do NOT teach them ANYTHING anymore, not in high school, not in college. One of the most critical things we should be teaching them is how to borrow money, how to manage money, and how to negotiate borrowing money, and how to avoid predatory lenders. The young lady you cite in the tween above obviously did not have those skills or knowledge and sadly none do. Money lending is one of the most competitive institutions in existence, millions competing to loan you money, money they are paying interest on money that if it sits there not loaned, costs them money. As desperate as you may feel for money, they are more desperate for you to sign those loan documents. USE that desperation. Negotiate. I’ve never taken a loan for what they offer in my life, that number they come back with that is their starting point. Then you walk in and sit down with a loan department manager, nobody but a department manager and you low ball the shit out of them. Remember they are borrowing that money they loan you between 1–2%, prime is 5%. I don’t care how shitty your credit is you should NEVER pay above 15%, even moderately decent credit should never pay above 10%, and anything above a 700 FICO should never pay above 7% EVER, for anything including credit card interest. The lenders know it and you need to know it. Once that lending manager realizes you know more about borrowing money than he knows about lending it, you win. Two days ago I borrowed $100k unsecured, I applied for loans with Wells Fargo, America Express, and Discover. 10.39 , 9.59, 9.59 was their offer. My first move was to play the 9.59’s against each other and they both came back with offers in the mid 8’s then I hit Wells Fargo the highest of the 3 and the most “ shady “ , I did not even have to say anything other than AE and Disc offered mid 8’s before WF came back at 7.69. I took that back to AE who I wanted to borrow from in the first place and they countered at 6.49 which I accepted. You have the power, you have the power in everything, you are the consumer. People have let corporations leech that power away falsely making you believe they don’t need you, but the reality is they do need you. Example : My friends and I use to eat at Cody’s Roadhouse every Friday night, 8 of us with food and drinks we never had a check under $500. In 2009 on a business lunch there a new manager decided to inquire why I was not eating my steak, a steak I had simply pushed to the side and not complained about, a steak I had every intention of just writing off as a one off, a rare bad cut that I just did not eat but still paid for. This young manager however decided to immediately go on the attack when I responded I just was not happy with it but it was fine. So he came back in a rage that they had the best steaks and I did not know meat and yada yada. Long story short, pissing one customer off so that I would never eat there again has cost them at a minimum 56 X 9 X $500 for a grand total of $252 thousand dollars over 9 years. I do not care who you are that is a significant loss, add in all the lost business lunches, catering, and just casual dining that they have lost you begin to see how EVERY customer is important no matter the con they are trying to pull to make you feel unimportant and insignificant.

    Joe Bass

    Written by

    Joe Bass