Basic honesty is a must. A person must be able and willing to tell the truth. Moreover, they must tell it quickly, uncompromisingly and fully. A simple question must elicit a simple answer. Any defensiveness, any protestations of the question you ask, should raise a red flag and get you ready to pull the chute on the proverbial parachute. A simple question should never result in a crooked answer, and such an answer is an indication that you may even be dealing with a crook. In any event, your life should not be about tolerating excuses.
The prospect of supporting someone, through investments, loans or your patronage, who does not reciprocate the respect you show them or which is customarily in a civilized society should be appalling, even infuriating, to you. In fact, your own business and reputation virtually requires you to dissociate from anyone acting in this manner. Worse, in a world where people are increasingly suspicious and afraid of being unable to detect a good salesman from a fraud, the temptation is to “pull the trigger” quickly on anyone with a dent and misjudge or prejudge people based on nothing but their company.