Rent-to-own push continues
March 19, 2013 at 4:44 am in RiverTowns.net
For more than two decades, the rent-to-own industry, which leases such goods as televisions, appliances and furniture, has been fighting to free itself from certain provisions of Wisconsin law. Throughout, it has lubricated the gears of change with campaign donations and lobbying outlays.
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Well, rip me off and call me La’Quisha.
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It’s just wrong to rip people off like that.
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Not a rent-to-own fan or anything, but this quote raises an interesting point:
“There is opposition even from within Walker’s Republican Party. State Sen. Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, recently called rent-to-own “a sleazy industry that preys on the poor by giving them contracts that no mathematically literate person would sign.”
Okay, so you’re essentially calling the customers “mathematically illiterate” then. How does putting some interest rate numbers on paper help out someone you’re calling “mathematically illiterate”?
Twenty or so years ago, there was a change in the way rent-to-own stores in MN displayed their tags on items. For example, if a piece of furniture or an appliance had a tag on it with the rental price for a week, (let’s say the tag said “rent for $19.99 per week”), a law/stipulation/regulation was put in place saying the rent-to-own company had to lay out the pricing in total. In other words, the salesperson couldn’t just quote the rental price by the week, they also had to include what the price would be for a month, a year, and for the two years it typically took to OWN the item.
While their business practices may very well be less than exemplary, what does it say about ADULTS in society that can’t multiply $19.99 X 4 to arrive a month price, then multiply that by 12 to arrive at the price for a year….then double that, (or whatever the case may be), to arrive at a total cost for a purchase they’re considering making?
Grade school kids wouldn’t consider that math challenging whatsoever.
Perhaps what REALLY needs addressing, is the desire to have things when those things are financially out of reach because many (most?) rent-to-own customers don’t have access to credit elsewhere. Does anyone NEED a new bedroom set or big screen tv when they don’t have money to pay for it and are unable to qualify for a credit card? Every week we get bombarded with junk-mail from several furniture establishments with offers like no interest financing for a year/two years/whatever…to “qualified buyers”.
Apparently, rent-to-own stores are still around because there are some consumers that want NEW stuff they don’t have the $$ to pay for, AND they also can’t “qualify” for any of these junk-mail furniture store offers, or a credit card.
Maybe shopping at a second-hand store or browsing Craigslist for deals ought to be occurring more often than it does.
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