<prompt> Human: Hi personal finance,I am considering proposing to my girlfriend of 2 years next month and so I started shopping around for an engagement ring this week. I had an odd experience yesterday that I was hoping someone might be able to shed some light on and also maybe some light on the process of buying a ring in general.So heres what happened. A woman from one of the large brand-name stores initially seemed very friendly. However she used some strange tactics dont really know what else to call them really. First of all she requested my drivers license as soon as I walked in. I couldnt find any harm in this so I gave it to her. Why this was done Im not sure, but thinking about it retrospectively, I felt a little off-put by it.Secondly she asked what my budget was. I said no more than 5000. She called someone using the stores phone and then had me speak to them. The person said they were from the same company and started asking questions like What do you do for a living?, How much student debt do you have? and What is the limit on your Visa card?. She then handed the phone back to the saleswoman and she told me good news, I was approved for 5000. I THINK what she meant was 5000 worth of financing, but Im not really sure. She was very vague about it when I inquired further. She mentioned that I could put 1000 down and pay something like 150 per month for 18 months with zero interest. So there are a couple weird things about this. One, I asked her if she had told the representative on the phone about my 5000 limit, because I found it odd that I was approved for the exact same amount of 5000. She said she did not. But I am quite certain I could be approved for way more than that. The lady on the phone didnt even ask me about my current assets.Another weird thing is that I mentioned to her multiple times that I dont need financing, I have the cash. She just ignored this and went on with the financing.When she pressuring me into buying a ring I was considering that day, I told her no, I dont make large purchases on the first visit. She then tried to get me to sign a document. She explained it poorly, saying it was for membership and so I could access my 5000. Of course she scoffed when I flipped the page back and actually started reading the thing. It was very vague itself, very wordy and difficult to interpret. I did not sign it.So needless to say that was a very confusing and annoying experience.rpersonalfinance... any idea what this was about? And any tips shopping for engagement rings?I should say Im actually kind of against buying diamonds for multiple reasons blood diamonds, DeBeers history of fixing diamond prices by controlling supply, the fact they can be made synthetically now but prices are still unchanged, scammy business practices by many diamond retailers .. the only reason Im even considering it is because my girl seems to expect it.If anyone knows of an alternative, please let me know.Edit: Wow. Thanks for all your support guys. This is really an awesome community of helpful people.I wanted to give you a quick update. It turns out they did check my credit score without my permission. Which is bad, because it will likely lower it a little bit. I printed out my credit report and confronted them. They were super extremely apologetic and said they had no idea, but theyve been in the industry for at least 5 years each so Im sure they knew exactly what they were doing.I guess my next step would be to dispute the inquiry with the credit bureau.. Im going to look into it tomorrow.And Ive decided to buy a non-diamond stone probably moissonite online with a cheap placeholder ring and propose using that, then let her pick the ring style herself afterwards. This way I can save thousands and she gets to create exactly what she is imagining. I will have to tell her its not a diamond though. Hopefully that goes over well.  <response>: Its okay to talk about such things with your gf. Maybe sometime have a walk by a jewelry store when you are out and about. Also, not really your question, but you should keep an eye on your credit report. If it were me, I would implement a credit freeze - they have all your info. Ill bet the account is already opened. 