They shook hands.
She tried not to skip back to her minivan.
She’d need to get to the bank! Her mind raced.
She’d diverted her education so long she’d given up on that dream. But the idea of earning a living doing what she loved wasn’t dependent on a degree.
Ina Garten didn’t go to culinary school, neither did Tom Colicchio, and he had James Beard awards. The degree wasn’t important. The food was.
Once she let culinary school go, she moved forward to shape her dream career in a different way.
Even Archie was on board with the food truck idea. He’d tapped the equity of their house for one business after another, her ideas were always set aside for his. But this time he was okay with idea!
A food truck, Venerable Events. The idea had her practically speeding to the bank. She envisioned a logo, a new paint job, and weekends serving gorgeous food at area events.
She waited a few minutes in the lobby of her bank while her loan officer took care of another customer. She hoped it wouldn’t take long. She needed to get the money back before the evening, as she promised.
Finally, it was her turn. Her banker, Sally Pinkle, was also a mom friend. Their daughters were all graduating this year. Sally knew her food truck plans and had been so encouraging. Even down to helping her open a special business account for the new venture.
Sally’s customer had a scowl on his face as he left her cubicle in a bit of a huff. But no matter, no one was going to bring her down today.
“I found the truck, but the clock’s ticking. I’m going to need a cashier’s check from the line of credit so I can go get it. I talked the price down, so I’m pretty proud of that.”
“Hope, uh, yeah, can you have a seat?”
Hope noticed Sally swallowing, then her lips closed into a tight thin line.
“Of course.”
“So, about the line of credit,” Sally said.
“Last time we talked, we had sixty thousand available to devote to this.”
“The climate is changing, and banks, not just this one, have to reign in some of our credit policies.”
“But the house has only gone up in value, and we’ve always paid the mortgage on time,” Hope said.
“For some customers, we’ll be switching lines of credit to loans. You tapped twenty thousand for the storage units last year. And conditions have changed, your home value, and others, are going down, in your case, it will deflate by eighty thousand.”
“What? It’s the same house? The bank was the one who suggested the line of credit. I don’t understand.”
“It isn’t the end of the world, but you’ll need to pay four hundred a month on the balance of your previous credit line since it’s been switched from credit to loan.”
In a heartbeat, they’d gone from the buffer of easy credit to an increase in their monthly debts!
“Sally, that makes buying this food truck impossible. It puts us in a worse place, financially, than we’ve ever been.”
“It’s the economy, nationally. This is impacting people everywhere. There is a bubble popping effect that is hitting everyone.”
Sally said something about the subprime mortgages and recessions and how banks struggled to survive.
It was all a blur. Her dream of a food truck business was dashed. Suddenly, Hope was worried about paying the new monthly loan number.
She was worried about paying for the kids’ college.
There would be no food truck business. The truck evaporated from her imagination.
Hope felt like the universe was telling her to stop dreaming these things again. It’s not going to happen.
