Bank President Briggs Todd agreed to make the loan—Alex and I gave him our personal guarantee—to our high school Sea Scouts. And “Briggs, work ‘em over like you do us. Teach our young men how banks negotiate loans.”
Happened back in the 1950s when Lawyer Eastus and Oilfield Supply Salesman Elam volunteered to skipper Sea Scout Ship Phantom. A payback for the fine leadership Skipper Claude Willis gave us in the 1940s.
Our young charges spent the winter grooming their 15-foot Snipe for racing. “But we need a new suit of sails. Come summer we can do yard work to raise $450, but we need the money now.”
We prepared two of the young men to talk to our banker. Lawyer Eastus explained they would have to agree to payback terms including interest payments. Alex told them interest percentage was negotiable.
I pay a higher interest, say around seven percent, than Dick who borrows often to finance trucks they buy. Say six percent.
When the borrowers—still remember Rusty Burnett and Barton Cox—met the banker, he had their loan ready to sign.
Before they signed Barton asked, “How much interest must we pay?“ Briggs hurriedly asked how much the Sea Scouts wanted to pay. They answered three percent. Briggs agreed, then hurried to his bigger-pay appointment.
When Alex and I later heard from Barton we were told, “You guys have been paying that bank too much interest.”
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