MSE News: Vulnerable consumers pay triple high street prices for Rent-to-Own goods

A question about : MSE News: Vulnerable consumers pay triple high street prices for Rent-to-Own goods

Cash-strapped customers who buy TVs and washing machines through rent-to-own (RTO) schemes are paying three times more ...

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Vulnerable consumers pay triple high street prices for Rent-to-Own goods

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Best answers:

• If you were cash strapped, why buy a TV which also needs TV licence?
  Washing machine I can sort of understand if there is no laundrette nearby (likely to be cheaper than paying 3x cost) but if you have no cash spare surely luxury items are not a priority?
• Can't afford it, don't buy it.
  Simple
• More "news" ...
• As long as the cost is clear it doesn't matter if they are 2, 3 or 10 times more expensive than some other retailers, no one is being forced to buy. It hardly needs a report to establish it's an expensive way to obtain goods.
• Probably still cheaper than putting it on a sub-prime credit card and paying the minimum payment for a few years.
• Gumtree etc has loads of cheap perfectly working TVs and dryers/washers that people have upgraded and selling on.
  Its a case of fooling people with "Ј xx per week" making it look cheap.
• I bought a chest freezer for Ј30, listed in ebay. It had a few scratches from having to squeeze a pushchair past it. But for my needs it was a bargain.
  That was about 8 years ago.
  Less than one payment on their Samsung freezer they mentioned. Who does someone with no money need a Ј644 freezer?
  I see they dont bother to mention the 40"+ TV's which i presume they sell a lot of.
• The shops offering these deals have to put prices this high, as the level of default is much higher than lending money to credit worthy people.
  Only fools would take such a deal, but there are a lot of fools in the UK these days!
• maybe a compulsory maths course before making any purchase?
• Compulsory maths may work. But when they put down they only intend to make 1 or 2 payments and then they will have moved address and taken the goods with them can they still buy the goods?
• As well as loads of scamming on gumtree i nearly fell foul of that.
• I have a cousin who uses this method. He moans about the cost yet he says that he has no other option. However, he somehow manages to pay for his cigs, booze and scratch cards up front.
• CRT TVs on eBay for Ј5, or even 99p
  Freeview box if the TV has no digital tuner, also from 99p
• is anyone surprised by this?
  luxury items charged at high APRs to people with poor credit worthiness.
  colour me shocked.
• I work, my partner works.
  When we moved into our first home, we could not afford any new equipment.
  So we purchased a used fridge used freezer and an old CRT TV for the grand sum of Ј40 all in.
  Over time, we upgraded our white goods, having saved, forgone certain luxuries, and only purchased what we needed, within our budget, and no credit.
  The title is disingenuous to vulnerable people, there is a difference between Mr & Mrs Jones going to brighthouse to get a 57" Ultra HD tv at 4 x RRP because they want the luxury, and a vulnerable person.
• I wish the journos at MSE would be a little more careful with the emotive language they use.
  Is someone who pays Ј26.00 for a week for a Samsung 55" Curved Ultra HD Smart TV or someone who pays Ј10 a week for a Playstation 4 really "vulnerable"?
  Even the items mentioned in the article, a tumble dryer and an expensive freezer, are not (usually) essential items.
  I note the word "vulnerable" was coined by MSE itself for this article and isn't even from a quote.
  I don't own a tumble dryer or freezer here, so I guess I'm "vulnerable".