Oh you can be approved for a ton of debt that you can't actually afford. Banks take the position that it's your debt and you can do what you want so long as you can make the payments. They don't care if you spend 90% of your income on your debt payments. (Remember they get money from the interest so the worse you are at repaying the better it is for them).

When I got my mortgage they approved us for 2.5 times what we asked for it. It was asinine. We took a much more modest house and have been happy with that.

They’ll approve way more than they should, but also they probably quoted high interest rates to make up for the risk. People need to see high interest rates as a red flag that the bank really doesn’t believe you but are just feeding you rope while you tie your own noose.

Technically there’s a plus in that this is how people with marginal finances get any credit, have access to any car (and yes cars are unfortunately necessary in too many places). But I’m not sure we’re doing them any favors

Because it's probably an 8 year loan which has a six year overlap with the other 8 year loan. This shit makes lenders rich because the interest is all front loaded so 4 years in when the idiot defaults on the second loan they've already gotten like 80% of that amortization and can then just repo the vehicle and do it all over again.