As the lunch break approaches, bank advisers are more cautious about granting loans. This is the result of a study carried out by the Department of Psychology in Cambridge.
Amlia is not a novice owner. Early into working life, at the age of 29, she owns a Montpellier studio bought in Censi-Bouvard which she rents to students. This is why, when she arrived in Saint-Etienne, and realizing that it was more interesting to her to buy than to rent, Amlia set out to find an apartment to buy. Although in professional reconversion, this did not prevent her from visiting properties with confidence because her bank had assured her to follow her in this new real estate operation. No problem, we have already accepted files identical to yours, Analle his advisor had told him.
Very quickly, Amlia found the ideal 3-room apartment in the heart of downtown Stphanois: a recently refurbished 70-square-meter, sold for 90,000 euros. A case! Amlia therefore hastens to submit her request for financing. But, reversal of situation, his bank categorically refuses to give him credit despite having savings available. After Amelia’s insistence and her parents’ anecdotal help, the bank finally changed its mind a few days later and accepted the loan.
A hungry banker is a cautious banker
What if Amelia’s plans and her advisor’s changing decisions were a pitiful stomach affair? Fatigue and starvation, Analle would have taken fright in front of the less conventional file of his client. Impossible? Yet this seems to be shown by a study carried out by researchers from the psychology department at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom. To reach this conclusion, they looked at the decisions granted to reengineer loans taken by 30 bankers on 26,501 requests for financing that had arrived during 1 month. Conclusion: tired at the approach of noon, the advisers are more cautious about risk-taking and prefer the status quo to the granting of a new credit.
Loan officials were more willing to agree to grant a customer more lenient loan repayment terms in the morning, explains Simone Schnall, director of this study published in the journal Royal Society Open Science. By noon, however, they were decision-making fatigue and were less likely to grant a loan restructuring request. After lunch, they probably felt more rested and were again able to make better decisions., details the professor of psychology.
save up to 50% on your borrower insurance
—
A heavy loss for the bank
Researchers argue that these prevented restructurings have led to a financial loss of $ 500,000 for the establishment, the sum that the bank would have recovered in additional repayments if all the decisions had been made early in the morning. Even decisions that we may assume to be very objective and motivated by specific financial considerations are influenced by psychological factors. This clearly proves that regular breaks during working hours are important to maintain high performance levels, said Tobias Baer, first author of the report.
For customers, the moral of the story is therefore to ask your banker if he is hungry before presenting him with a crucial request and if he answers yes to provide him with a snack! More seriously, the results of this study show that it is preferable to ask him more in the early morning or early afternoon, that is to say at times when the advisor is mentally more available to study complex files.
Find the best rate for your mortgage
–
