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When to get furniture from the furniture rental store

new sofaq (cc) image from flickr

As the economy went south, sales at Aarons, went north. The 15% increase in sales can be attributed directly to this being a business that caters to the working poor. As the economy got worse, the customer base at Aarons grew.

Aarons, Rent-a-center, Color Tyme and similar rent-to-own companies rent furniture to people who don’t have the money or credit to purchase it outright. The way it works is that they rent a $1000.00 TV for $100.00 a month for a term of 24 months. Along with monthly processing fees, profit on this TV is more than 100%. This dwarfs what you would pay would you buy the TV with store credit and pay it off in 2 years.

To make matters worse, should you miss a payment, you will pay penalties, or have the item “ripped” or removed from your home and your contact will be cancelled. This can happen even if you have had the item for 18 of 24 month, causing you to lose all of the money you paid into the item. While it is great that the cancelled contract won’t follow you on your credit report, all of the money you paid will have nothing to show for it.

Having worked for Rent-a-Center in my younger years, I fully understand how the scam… er… I mean system works. The customer will fill out an application for credit and when (not if) they are approved, will be told how much they can spend each week or month at the establishment. They then arrange rent a furniture set of item and pay for it weekly or monthly. When (not if) the family has financial troubles it is removed from the home (affectionately called “ripped”, and then rented to another person. The rental company can make 3 to 5 times what an item is worth by renting it instead of selling it. I eventually quit my job because I saw account reps talking people into buying things they could not afford when their original item was nearly paid off, padding more and more things on the account each week until they could not pay, and then taking all of them items back only to rent to another person.

This is not to say that you should never set a foot in a furniture rental establishment. Furniture rental stores are excellent places to purchased pre-owned furniture and appliances. Items that come back into the store not in good enough shape to re-rent, and electronics out of date are often sold at a greatly reduced price to the general public. All you have to do is go into the store and ask to see items available for cash sale. Before you hand over your money however, inspect the furniture well for signs of bugs.

Another good time to rent furniture is when you are staging a home for sale. This is because you don’t plan to keep it anyway.

Other options: How to Find New Inexpensive Furniture

Give Your Furniture A Lift