So, if I were to give you a loan...
And I were to hold your collateral, you don't think that would constitute bad intentions?
Honestly, that is not something that would bother me, as long as all obligations to me are followed.
It would bother me. Even if the intention was not to scam, and in the example above I would be jeopardizing the reputation of my main account if I were to scam, it's the deception that's troubling. One is left to question; why the deception?
It wouldn't be wrong of me to insist on holding the collateral for a loan I granted. I'd like to believe that I'm trusted enough that most of my clients would feel comfortable with that situation. And if not, I'm not going to go out of my way to deceive them.
I was answering your question specifically how I would feel about the situation. I also understand that others feel differently.
Maybe granting loans is different than trading physical items, which is what I was doing, and there would be less of a legitimate reason to hold collateral for a loan with a hidden alt. The transactions I acted as escrow for myself were transactions in which I had to disclose my IRL identity, or risk being forced to refund my buyer if something went wrong. One of the transactions involved me shipping something internationally, and I had to disclose my IRL identity on the customs form which is attached to the package. The other transaction involved me selling someone bitcoin via Western Union (it might have been a similar service), and if I didn't put my real name on the sending form (the information of which is available to the seller I believe), I would be unable to get a refund from Western Union if for some reason the buyer could not pick up the money.
As I said above, the reason I did this was because I wanted to protect my IRL identity.