"Borrow Against"

• No lender entrusts borrowers with the management of its money unless they can prove they hold -- or will hold -- assets of equal or larger value. These assets are what you can "borrow against." For example, you can get a three-year loan to buy a car if your salary figure indicates you can repay the total value of the loan within three years. Furthermore, a business can secure a loan if the value of its assets exceed the value of the loan. This way, even if the business has a financial disaster, the lender does not end up losing his money.