SAFE BANKING: "Never Lost Any Money On An Amish Deal"

In most banks, a man who wants to buy a farm but has no credit history, no FICO score and not even a driver's license would be unlikely bet. But O'Brien is used to this.

"I'll find out who his dad was," he says. "I'm also interested in who his wife's father was. It takes a team to make a farm go."

O'Brien says the Amish are less risky debtors than people with access to all the tools of modern banking. The Amish live well within their means -- no splurging on iPods or HDTVs, no dinners out that they really can't afford. The Amish think that missing a payment brings shame -- not just on them, but on their whole family, their whole community.

"We've never lost any money on an Amish deal," he says. "So, I'll stretch my neck more for with them than maybe I will somewhere else."

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Comments

[The Hedonistic Pleasureseeker]

The Amish probably don't "do" fractional reserve banking, the only legal Ponzi scheme in the world. The Amish wouldn't conceive of a "derivative." They wouldn't need to.

Sharia compliant banks don't do fractional reserve banking either, because in Islam usury is forbidden. They're banks are doing just hunky dory, thank you, and a lot of rich folks are rushing to open bank accounts in Dubai these days, even though they are not Muslim.

Every fractional reserve banking scheme has eventually collapsed. Every single one throughout history; it's simply America's turn to go through its hyperinflationary collapse. We were talking about this in my high school algebra class back in the 1980's.

It's just math, folks: Ponzi schemes have mathematical limits, and the dollar has hit it's limit.

[phylliscooper1]

My family is not Amish, but we were raised to pay our bills and meet our obligations. My mother is 80 and to this day, when she receives a bill she is practically writing the check before she opens the envelop. I remember my grandparents, who were farmers and a small town grocer always kept their word. They would go to the ends of the earth to help their neighbors and friends. The favors were returned in kind. The contrasts in just 4 generations is hard to believe and we call that progress.

[TRichards]

I'll bet the Amish don't have no concerns about the markets, the War on Terror, and the lies and distortions of the Bush Administration. Instead, as Voltaire urged, they tend their own gardens and let the world do what it will.

Ah, if I weren't old and an atheist, I'd join up.

[nobozos]

If I weren't old and an atheist, I'd join up too.

It's my belief that our government should forgo massive Wall Street bailouts, and give every American over the age 21 $200,000, with the caveat we put half of that in the bank of our choice.
Let US decided which banks and businesses deserve to survive.

Here in Idaho, we have plenty of small, ethical banks and credit unions that deserve our business.
Give the money to the American taxpayers and let us choose.

Washington is too corrupt for the leadership we need. The American taxpayer is not.

[Susej]

I like your idea. It seems fair and invokes some kind of natural selection where the fittest survive

[ObjectiveRealist]

For the same reason, micro-loans are so reliable their inventor recently was awarded a Nobel Prize.

http://kiva.org/

[gcallaghan]

If the Amish opened their own credit union, I'd trust them with what's left of my money.

[brooklyncitizen]

i always forgt abotu the amish...no power? how do they keep warm?

[SpaghettyIrish]

Wood burning stoves and fireplaces, I'd imagine, as well as a good blanket and bedclothes.

[AddyGmom]

We heated a 1200 sq ft house with a Grandpa Bear wood stove. Kept a kettle on all the time to provide humidity. Bet the Amish withstood the power outage of downed lines due to ice just fine.

[Susej]

If it didn't violate the local fire code and would not jack up my home insurance, I'd buy one of those and install it in my living room.

[MuchMadness]

Kudos to the Amish for their Christian witness.

[beaupritchard]

I'm almost afraid that shining a light on them is going to screw the whole thing up. Even now someAIG guy is thinking to himself ... "unbundled loans ... where".

[Erdgeist]

As the old Shaker song goes: "'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free..."

[DC]

The way banking should be -- knowing your customer, knowing who is on the other side of the deal. That is all it takes -- not FICO, not a pre qualifying grid built on fixed questions and answers to fit the fannie mae guideline (lot of good that did 'em).

There are multi millionaires out there who could not get a loan because they do not fit the Fannie Mae guideline. And then there are those who can rig the system to get loans and they are worthless.

This is banking in America.

[sonoffestus]

we not smart , we slow learners..........

[ndem]

It's called TRUST and some lucky people still have it...in much of the world where people live within their means they can be trusted to pay back...look at Yunus' Grameen bank in banlgadesh...and many other microcredit programs...it's called integrity and morality and NOT Greed! Learn something!!!

[MyTake]

Good point.

But you would not have this problem in the U.S. if the Federal Reserve Private Bank was abolished and replaced with a true U.S. Central Bank that set the tone for better money management.