1. Finance: Borrower requests a loan or an extension of credit which is greater than what he/she can pay. Expanding beyond one's safe financial limit presents a great risk to both the financial institution that authorized the loan or credit extension and the borrower. 2. Investing: Purchase of additional stock by using the existing stocks in their portfolio as leverage. In a bear market or when the value of the stock declines, investors will receive a margin call from their broker and will have to sell the assets in their portfolio to pay for their overextension.