In the lending industry, there is a commonly used term called a “shopper” to describe a person who is calling every lender in town to find the best deal on a loan. Experienced lenders can usually spot a ‘shopper’ a mile away, but from time to time anyone can fall victim to one.

This is a story about a ‘shopper from hell,’ a woman named Jackie who was also desperate for a loan. After we offered her terms for the loan, she suddenly went cold on us and wouldn’t return our calls. This is a tell-tale sign that you are being ‘shopped’ by a borrower. So we forgot all about her and moved on.

Several weeks later Jackie returned and seemed motivated to move forward with our loan. So we drew up the loan documents and sent them to the Title company. Later that day, the Title company called to say that several lenders had also opened escrow on the same property! I called Jackie to find out the story. She said that she had a lender she was working with previously but that she backed out. She promised that we were her only lender now and that she had eliminated all of the other lenders. This was when we should have stopped the presses and cut our losses. But we continued in vain.

A couple of days later, Jackie went in to sign on our new loan at the Title company. Soon after she arrived to sign, we received a call from the Title company saying she left without signing. The Title guy said that she was missing the correct document she needed to sign for the business entity that held title to the property. We were very clear with Jackie as to what documents she was required to bring to Title to close. But why had she failed to bring them?

Shortly thereafter, I received a call from the person who was receiving a payoff from our new loan. He said Jackie had called him to say there would be a delay in getting him his money. He then asked her, “I thought you were at the Title company signing on the new loan?” She answered that the other lender had come back and offered her a larger loan amount. In order to keep us on the hook a little longer, she pretended to us that she was going to sign on our new loan. She deliberately forgot the document she needed to sign, and said she would have to return with it at a later time.

We were able to speak to the other lender later that day. He told us that he had been working with Jackie all along. Like us, he also had no idea she was working with another lender. He was in disbelief when I told him she was at Title that very day signing on our new loan and had left without signing. The entire time, Jackie had been playing all of us like a fiddle until she got what she wanted. Feeling very cheated and duped I was at a loss at what to do.

The moral of the story? Be wary of these loan ‘shoppers.’ They will waste your time and stretch your sense of sanity. Also, be on high alert when a person approaches you for a loan who seems desperate. This person is one who will call incessantly, email you non-stop, and in some cases text you at all hours of the day. If you suspect someone may be ‘shopping’ you, make a few calls around town to other lenders and find out.

Please share any stories you have about ‘shoppers’ or ‘desperate borrowers.’ I need some comic relief after being taken so badly by this ‘shopper from hell.’