Once, when I was fresh out of college, I worked at a mortgage company, a really rotten place. All day I looked at loans, applied some rules, issued a thumbs up or thumbs down. Some couple in Honululu Hawaii with x income trying to get an n amount mortgage. Denied. Approve. Denied … all day every day, people reduced to just a set of facts, and I, a faceless “underwriter” in some far off corner of the country have final say over whether or not they get the house they want, that they might dream of. It’s dehumanizing.
Before I jumped to tech, I took one more shot at credit underwriting, and interviewed at a company in New York City that did something called “factoring”. On paper, it seemed like an ethical, maybe even highly beneficial application of finance. You buy a company’s invoices so they get money today instead of 30-90 days from now. Decent enough, this is probably useful I thought. I go to the company’s office in New York, in financial district for the interview. Goes fine, I ask what kind of customers they have, what interest they charge and it quickly becomes apparent that this company is basically a roundabout-welldressed shylock.
I guess the interview went well enough and it’s a smallish company so the CEO wants to personally vet potential new hires, I meet him in his office. An ex wallstreet banker that started his own company, imagine al Pacino from that movie where he plays the devil. It was a really odd conversation, and it was obvious to both of us that we didn’t see eye to eye. The one thing I remember saying, and the context begets me, I said “we really do build our own personal hell in this world don’t we?” And I remember it being kind of a Freudian slip of a realization, as I sat across from this man who was obviously quite proud of his own self-built cage. He just looked at me funny and asked what the hell I meant by that, and I couldn’t really articulate it, however they still they gave me a job offer (it was terrible, I didn’t take it, the interviewer was practically abusive towards me on the phone for not graciously accepting it or even negotiating).
I just think to myself, these people in their endless drive for personal material wealth, their complete inability to grasp the value of anything worldly and good, how did they stray so far from the path? Who/what led them away and blinded them from seeing natural goodness?
I never got into the weeds as I didn’t end up taking the job, but ill explain a bit:
The factoring company buys a company’s invoices at some discount, say $.90 cents on the dollar. Companies that need factoring are usually small businesses in dire straits (if the straits weren’t dire, why couldn’t you get a regular business loan/line of credit?). This is where it started to look a bit like a shylock to me, not to say all factoring companies are nasty, but this one definitely smelled funny to me. Bad factors will deliberately look for desperate businesses and take advantage, buy their receivables for say $.60 on the dollar, company barely makes pay roll, has to continuously keep factoring. There’s also stacking fees for things like unpaid receivables and contracts that give the factor recourse to go after a company’s assets directly in case of unpaid invoices. It just seems a little parasitic, a little mafiaso to me. I never took the job so this could be somewhat cynical and uninformed as well.
Objective or not, he raises some good points, namely that the book's author isn't very objective herself, by engaging in cherrypicking of the worst companies to make her point. Sure, some editorial discretion might be justified when choosing examples for a book, but this style of argumentation is as rigorous as arguing that vaccines are bad by bringing up all the worst cases of side effects.
Once, when I was fresh out of college, I worked at a mortgage company, a really rotten place. All day I looked at loans, applied some rules, issued a thumbs up or thumbs down. Some couple in Honululu Hawaii with x income trying to get an n amount mortgage. Denied. Approve. Denied … all day every day, people reduced to just a set of facts, and I, a faceless “underwriter” in some far off corner of the country have final say over whether or not they get the house they want, that they might dream of. It’s dehumanizing.
Before I jumped to tech, I took one more shot at credit underwriting, and interviewed at a company in New York City that did something called “factoring”. On paper, it seemed like an ethical, maybe even highly beneficial application of finance. You buy a company’s invoices so they get money today instead of 30-90 days from now. Decent enough, this is probably useful I thought. I go to the company’s office in New York, in financial district for the interview. Goes fine, I ask what kind of customers they have, what interest they charge and it quickly becomes apparent that this company is basically a roundabout-welldressed shylock.
I guess the interview went well enough and it’s a smallish company so the CEO wants to personally vet potential new hires, I meet him in his office. An ex wallstreet banker that started his own company, imagine al Pacino from that movie where he plays the devil. It was a really odd conversation, and it was obvious to both of us that we didn’t see eye to eye. The one thing I remember saying, and the context begets me, I said “we really do build our own personal hell in this world don’t we?” And I remember it being kind of a Freudian slip of a realization, as I sat across from this man who was obviously quite proud of his own self-built cage. He just looked at me funny and asked what the hell I meant by that, and I couldn’t really articulate it, however they still they gave me a job offer (it was terrible, I didn’t take it, the interviewer was practically abusive towards me on the phone for not graciously accepting it or even negotiating).
I just think to myself, these people in their endless drive for personal material wealth, their complete inability to grasp the value of anything worldly and good, how did they stray so far from the path? Who/what led them away and blinded them from seeing natural goodness?
> this company is basically a roundabout-welldressed shylock
Are we really still casually using the term “Shylock” today?
Someone we know is:
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/04/trump-antisemitic-t...
I don’t think many Jews are offended by my usage of “Shylock” in my comment (as a Jew)
> is basically a roundabout-welldressed shylock
Can you elaborate? I am curious at who is getting the short end in this deal.
I never got into the weeds as I didn’t end up taking the job, but ill explain a bit:
The factoring company buys a company’s invoices at some discount, say $.90 cents on the dollar. Companies that need factoring are usually small businesses in dire straits (if the straits weren’t dire, why couldn’t you get a regular business loan/line of credit?). This is where it started to look a bit like a shylock to me, not to say all factoring companies are nasty, but this one definitely smelled funny to me. Bad factors will deliberately look for desperate businesses and take advantage, buy their receivables for say $.60 on the dollar, company barely makes pay roll, has to continuously keep factoring. There’s also stacking fees for things like unpaid receivables and contracts that give the factor recourse to go after a company’s assets directly in case of unpaid invoices. It just seems a little parasitic, a little mafiaso to me. I never took the job so this could be somewhat cynical and uninformed as well.
Isn't that basically payday loans, but for corporates?
No, payday loans are factoring but for individuals.
Haha, but yes pretty much that’s a very apt comparison
A more critical review of the same book, albeit from a former private equity veteran: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-06/private-e...
I.e. a critical review from someone who is unlikely to be objective. It's particularly hard to essentially denounce your life's work.
Objective or not, he raises some good points, namely that the book's author isn't very objective herself, by engaging in cherrypicking of the worst companies to make her point. Sure, some editorial discretion might be justified when choosing examples for a book, but this style of argumentation is as rigorous as arguing that vaccines are bad by bringing up all the worst cases of side effects.
https://archive.ph/2025.07.02-113912/https://www.nytimes.com...