Leasing merchandise?
By katsmeow1213
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
United States
November 24, 2008 11:48am CST
Have you ever shopped at a rent to own store for your furniture or electronics or appliances? They might be a bit pricey, but if you don't have a large sum of money to buy something outright, and don't have a credit card for the purchase, leasing merchandise is a great way of getting something.
We've leased many things in the past. Our washer and dryer, our sofa and loveseat, and both of our computers have been leased.
We may soon be leasing again. Our TV is about to die, the inputs are shot so it's difficult to watch a DVD or play a video game. TV's are expensive, and we won't have that kind of money to outright buy one. Even with hubby's employee discount, because he works in an electronics store, it would still cost $1200 for the TV we want. We could down grade to a smaller TV to save some money, but we've had a 52" for like 4 or 5 years now, and we want something around the same size.
Would you consider leasing, or would you look for an alternative option?
7 responses
@GreenMoo (11833)
•
2 Dec 08
In the past I've considered leasing, and we did hire a TV at one stage. However, prices have dropped and they have become more reliable, so hiring one is a less attractive option now.
At the moment we don't have a TV at all, & haven't for about 4 years. Think how much money you could save! ;-)
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
2 Dec 08
I doubt we could survive without a TV. We are big movie buffs and will watch movies 2 or 3 times a week most of the time. We have a couple shows on cable we like to watch, and sometimes it keeps the kids occupied while I get a breather for a split second.
@lilybug (21107)
• United States
25 Nov 08
I did that with a washer and dryer when I was living in an apartment that had a basement with hookups. I did not have the money to just go out and buy a pair. What I was paying for them was about what I was spending on doing laundry at the laundromat if you include the gas to get there.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
25 Nov 08
Yes, it's good that we have this option, otherwise there are many people out there who would not be able to own things like this.
@ravinskye (8237)
• United States
24 Nov 08
I don't know much about leasing stuff. I always got the impression from people that leasing stuff wasn't a good way to go. I thought that in the end you would end up paying a lot more for whatever you were buying. I guess I would consider it if the payments per month were reasonable.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
24 Nov 08
Yes, you do end up paying more, but it would be the same thing if you purchased it with a credit card, after the interest, you'd end up paying like double what the item was worth.
Rent to own is great for people with bad credit who don't have credit cards, and who want or need something nice, but can't buy it outright.
Most payments are around $100. Like our computers were $120 a month for 12 months. Then we were able to split it into bi-weekly payments, so we paid $60 every 2 weeks. That was much more affordable than coming up with $500 up front. Of course you save a ton if you can pay it off early, which we usually do with our taxes each year if we can afford it.
The TV I'm looking at leasing is going to be $120 for 24 months. I'd end up paying double what hubby can buy it for, but I can't come up with $1200 to buy it outright until tax season, and my TV won't last until then.
Then, if my situation changes in a few months and I can't afford the payments anymore, I just send it back and can stop paying. Sure I've lost the money I put into it, but if I purchased with a credit card, I can't just stop making payments on the credit card, and I can't return the merchandise that long after buying it.
@Anne18 (11029)
•
24 Nov 08
I have never leased anything. But I do have friends who have leased items.
A friend leased a television and it was also a television that took coins in it so to watch the telvision they had to put money into it. It was quite good really becvause when the guy came to empty it he only took the rental money andd gave the rest back to my friend so it was like a saving scheme for them. They did watch an awful lot of telly!!
@Barb42 (4214)
• United States
25 Nov 08
I don't like the idea of leasing. If you could 'lease to own' and it wasn't higher than the item would cost you outright, it wouldn't be bad. But I know it costs much more to do that. I would downgrade to a smaller size television and buy it. We only have a 32 inch and it's big enough. We have thought about going to a 36" or 40" if we ever have to buy another one. We have a big den, but this is plenty big for us.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
25 Nov 08
By leasing, I do mean lease to own. It is pricier than buying the item outright of course, but it would be pricier if purchased with a credit card too. My husband works for one of these rent to own stores, it's a good thing for many people who need it.
@rocketj1 (6955)
• United States
24 Nov 08
I have never done that. It seems to me that it is really the same thing as paying for something on your credit card. In fact, I believe the interest rate would be comparably much higher!
I think that I might rent there if I were in need of something for a short period of time. If we had houseguests and needed a certain piece of furniture for the visit. Or renting a big screen for a game or something.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
24 Nov 08
It has it's ups and downs. I don't own a credit card, and don't have the credit to get one, so this is about the only option for me when I can't afford to buy an item outright.
@gemini_rose (16264)
•
24 Nov 08
I know that there are shops around to do that at but I have never done it. I have used a catalogue many a time to buy things and then paid it off weekly but that always seemed to get me into trouble so now we decided that we would not have anything unless we could pay for it.
@katsmeow1213 (28716)
• United States
24 Nov 08
I've never used a catalog, I could see how that would get us into trouble as well. For us leasing is different though, especially now that hubby works at one of these type stores. If we don't pay on it like we're supposed to, they come and take it back. If we need the item (or want it and can afford the payments) we know we have that as a back up plan in case we can't afford to buy it outright, and since we need the item and don't want it taken back, we know to pay on it.
