Meeting the Bank Manager

Last Friday, we had a meeting with the Bank Manager to ask for a mortgage to help finance our latest project.

At 9.30am, he arrived. A very smart grey haired spectacled man in his fifties with very shiny black shoes. He opened the door next to the cashier, and we past the counting machines, a large safe and went up the stairs to his very sparse office overlooking the town square.

Do you have your papers he asked ?

I produced our birth certificates, marriage certificate (which seem to be required for everything in France) and last years tax return.

In return he slid a piece of paper across the desk which showed the amount we had asked to borrow and the monthly repayment amounts. Are you happy with this ?, he asked.

It all seemed pretty reasonable..an interest rate of 4.8 % can’t be bad, so we both nodded and soon his printer was churning out the mortgage contract and we were signing the still warm papers.