Why affordability isn’t the same as repayment

Why “affordability” isn’t the same as “can you repay?”

Most people think lenders ask one question:

Can this person make the monthly payment?

That’s not the real question.

Lenders separate three things:

1. Capacity – does income cover repayments on paper

3. Resilience – what happens if income drops or costs rise

5. Behaviour – how this borrower has handled credit under stress before

You can pass (1) and still fail (2) or (3).

This is why people with good income still get declined — and why smaller loans can sometimes be harder to obtain than larger, well-structured ones.

Credit decisions are about risk structure, not fairness or sympathy.