Christina Ng, a Level I CFA candidate, defaulted on a bank loan she obtained to pay for her master's degree tuition when her wedding cost more than expected. A micro finance loan company lent her money to pay off the tuition loan in full, including penalties and interest. The micro finance loan company even extended further credit to pay for her parents' outstanding medical bills. Unfortunately, her parents' health problems escalated to the point that Ng had to take extensive time away from work to deal with the issues. She was subsequently fired and consequently defaulted on the second loan. Because she was no longer employed, Ng decided to file for personal bankruptcy. Do the loan defaults leading up to Ng's bankruptcy most likely violate Standard Ⅰ(D): Misconduct?
Although Ng's first loan default, which played a part in the subsequent bankruptcy, is a result of poor financial choices (i.e., paying for higher wedding costs rather than her tuition loan), neither of the loan defaults or the bankruptcy involves fraudulent or deceitful business conduct but rather unfortunate personal circumstances. Therefore, she would most likely not be in violation of Standard Ⅰ(D): Misconduct.