Hi, everybody! I'm Georgiana, your online English teacher. My mission is to help you to speak English fluently. Speaking English is way easier when you use the right material and techniques.

In the first part of this episode, I'm gonna talk about lending and borrowing something and how to get a loan from the bank.

And in the second part, you'll practice your spoken English with a question and answer mini-story.

All right, let's get started!

Today I'd like to talk about loans and the related vocabulary. Loans have always been a feature in all countries, societies, and cultures. Person A has some money, and person B needs money. Then person A can lend money to person B.

When we talk about lending, we don't talk about giving—giving means permanently, without a time limit. For example, if I say "I'll give you the car," it means that the car won't be mine anymore, it'll be yours.

When someone gives a loan, it's under certain conditions. That is, he agrees to give money under certain conditions. You can say, "give a loan," or more formally, "grant a loan."

Logically, a bank lends money. You go to a bank office and ask for a loan. Then the bank will consider whether or not to give you the loan. It depends on your salary, your situation, whether you have more loans, etc. If the bank agrees to grant you the loan, you receive the money you ask for. But beware, you have to return the money in the future. And when do you have to return it? You have to pay it back within the time the bank tells you to. A deadline means a time limited by date. For example. "You have until Friday to return the money."

By the way, you don't just pay back the money you borrow. You give me more money back. The extra money is interest. For example, if you ask for 1000 dollars, the interest may be 5% per year. Well, you have to pay $1,000 plus $50, which is 5% of $1,000.

That's how banks do business. By lending money from others and charging interest for it.

I wanted to make one thing clear before we continue with the lesson. When we leave money or any object to someone for a limited time, we use the word lend.

But when someone leaves us something temporarily, we use the word borrow.

Examples:

"I never lend my books to anyone."

"I lent John $50." (I expect that John will return the money.)

"Could I borrow your book for a minute, please?"

"Mary used to borrow money from her parents all the time."

There's another word in this context: insolvent'. A person who becomes insolvent means that they say they don't have money to pay. Solvency is the ability to pay. Insolvency is the inability to pay.

These are 5 of the largest banks in the U.S. in case you want to apply for a loan:)

1. JP Morgan Chase & Co.

2. Bank of America (BoA)

3. Wells Fargo

4. Citigroup

5. Goldman Sachs Group

Well, as always, don't memorize expressions about loans. Listen to the episode as many times as you need.