With mom’s passing being a little over five months back she is still so
on my mind. There are so many stories,
trips and lessons she taught me. I
think it’s time I write them down while they are still fresh in my mind. At some point they will fade. Having them written down hopefully I’ll still
be able to look back on them and smile.
Around 1981 I was 17 and had already enjoyed almost 2 years with my
first car that I paid cash for. It was a
little Maroon 1973 MG Midget. I needed
a new car and mom was going to take me and teach me how to get a loan.
So, she packed me up and took me to Capitol Hill State Bank in Oklahoma
City where she banked. We filled out
the paperwork, and then loan agent called us back. He explained to her that he would have given
her a loan for anything else, but he would not give her a loan for me to have a
car. His excuse was I was underage. Mom had enough money in a CD to cover the
loan, she was going to co-sign to start building my credit.
Well this did not sit well with mom, so she proceeded to pull out her
checkbook register and told him the dollar figure she wanted pulled out of her checking
account (which was more than the loan she was asking for). She then closed her account and put the
money in her purse. It was a Saturday
morning so not all banks were open. She
took me to a Savings and Loan and she walked in and told them she wanted to
know if they would let her co-sign for a loan for me to get a car. They said they would. She opened her purse, pulled out her money
(way more than she should have been carrying) and opened a new account. We got the loan; I got my car.
Mom took her CD when it came due and moved the money out of that
bank. She also had friends who had a
business account at the bank. She told
them about this, and they moved much more money that we had out of that
bank. I know it was not our paltry
money that made the bank go bankrupt, but a few years later they were out of
business. I would say it had more to do
with the service they provided.
Mom always said she didn’t intend to teach me the lesson she taught me. And she often wondered if she taught me the
right lesson. Funny years later I used
that lesson with a credit union that did the same thing, didn’t want to loan me
money to refinance my car (interest rates had dropped significantly, I wanted a
shorter loan to pay off faster at a lower rate). I took my lesson, pulled all but $5 out of
savings, moved my money elsewhere. Oh, and
I got that loan at a lower rate by they way.
To this day I have my account with them with $5 in savings. They mail me a statement every month (30
years later). I hold a grudge better
than mom did. But I have given in and
use their Visa Credit card, but I pay it off monthly, so I don’t have to pay
them interest.
Mom told me not too long before she died, I might want to give up that
grudge. I smiled and said no way, you
taught me this.
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