Several years ago, we went to a bank in Tokyo that was advertising housing loans with easy terms. Though we weren't shopping for a loan at the time we wanted to see what was needed in order to apply for one. The bank's approval criteria seemed simple enough: If you made at least ¥3 million a year, you were practically guaranteed a loan regardless of whether you worked for a company or were self-employed.

We happened to be in the latter camp and chatted with the loan officer for a long time, secure in the knowledge that we would qualify, since we had made more than that amount the previous year. But when we finally got around to looking at our tax returns, there was one problem: The ¥3 million cutoff mark was for net income, not gross. As freelancers, we deduct as many expenses as we are legally allowed in order to reduce our tax burden, and by doing so our net income fell below the ¥3 million line that year — by only ¥10,000. The loan officer said there was nothing he could do about it.

Each financial institution has its own criteria for approving loans, and while we've found that major banks tend to be tougher to please, there are so many variables involved that it's impossible to know for sure until you actually apply. Of course, in cases where you may seem a bigger risk but still get approved, the lender will charge higher interest. Thanks to deregulation, banks are no longer primarily in the loan business and thus can afford to be choosy, but there are other financial institutions perfectly willing to take up the slack.