Ah! Well the problem is if you hide that $70k from the bank when you apply, you are committing "bank fraud" and if you show it, it will improve your net worth (which is a benefit). You can try to get the bank to agree to not go after your $70k if you go bust and you won't have much chance of success, unless you have other assets that are worth more and are more liquid (hard to beat cash liquidity). One other option would be to shunt off the $70 somewhere else before you apply. In the stock world this is called a "nominee" or one who holds stocks for another. One caution with the cash portion and that is if the funds are coming from one place. What I mean is if you have a total of say $50k in cash and you use $20k for the loan and give $30k to some one else to hold for you, the bank may discover what you have done and that could be construed as fraud as well.

Hope this helps.

Kent Capener
Capener Consulting, LLC
http://www.capenerconsulting.com