# What would you borrow for?



## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Saw a Chase ad on the computer today, urging me to borrow "for that new car I'd been dreaming of." Made me think of the halcyon days of my youth, when things were different. You'd walk into this tiny office and the guy across the desk would skewer you with those gimlet eyes:

"And why do you wish to borrow, young man? Some item you suddenly need but have hitherto gotten along quite well without? A failure to save up for it? Improvidence, shiftlessness, or simple torpor? Or are you already in debt over your head and just looking for a few more days? Come, young man, which is it?"

So, what would you be willing to borrow for? What would you never borrow for?


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I wouldn't borrow money for anything--not a car or material possessions or vacations or good times, etc. Aside from a few changes of clothes and food to eat, not much else is essential to life, so not worth going into debt for. A mortgage is borrowing and that goes without saying: few have that much money saved up.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I wouldn't go down that road. When I was in my 20s and early 30s I lived beyond my means and only a wake-up call in the shape of final demands for my gas and electric bills shook me into getting back on track with my bank account which was usually overdrawn beyond the agreed limit about a fortnight before I was due to be paid each month. This had gone on for nearly 10 years. On top of that I was also lagging behind with my rent - not by much, but I was what could be described as a repeat offender. Thankfully I resisted the temptation to go to a loan company and I shudder to think what the outcome would have been had I done so. By the time I took a mortgage out I was older, wiser and on much steadier ground.


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## cwarchc (Apr 28, 2012)

Only my home......


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## Chi_townPhilly (Apr 21, 2007)

I'm halfway through a mortgage- so clearly I've borrowed for that- but...

I wouldn't borrow for anything else- unless--

the alternative was a danger to health. [E.g.: I'd borrow to keep from starving, or to get medically necessary care that wouldn't/couldn't otherwise be paid for.]


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

I note that right now the thread "What would you borrow for?" is followed by the thread "Whiskey."


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

A house on a mortgage - a car on a reputable hire purchase scheme. We've done both those things, but now own house & car outright. 
I wasn't brought up to borrow or do hire purchase & couldn't live with getting into debt, though as a student, I did amass an overdraft (soon paid off).
However, if a fabulous violin came along and I could only take advantage of the opportunity by borrowing, I just might be tempted...


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

The only times in my life that I have borrowed to buy something is for a house (mortgage). Fortunately, even that is not required anymore by now. I'm a firm believer in saving for what you want to buy.


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## Jos (Oct 14, 2013)

A house , and absolutely nothing else.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I'd also like to add at the risk of sounding po-faced that I'm not in agreement with loan companies being given advertising time on tv - a semi-jocular approach with nifty graphics doesn't make a company any more reasonable, as Wonga have proved with their sending out bogus legal threat letters to defaulters. Am I also wrong in thinking that a loan company sponsoring a big football club is a little distasteful bearing in mind the inflated salaries of the players sporting the loan company's logo on their shirts?


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

I borrowed for a car I bought this summer. I'd borrow for a house, borrow to start a business if I wanted to. To borrow is to make a deal, and there are good deals and bad. 

I appreciate that too many people have a cavalier attitude toward debt (and are terrible with money), but "neither a borrower nor a lender be" is naive advice, IMO.


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## Jos (Oct 14, 2013)

In business it is a different matter, and sometimes absolutely necessary to take a loan. 
And with the current interestrates money is incredibly cheap. 
But even cheap money has to be paid back at some point.
So I still prefer a somewhat conservative approach when it comes to businessloans.


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