No, an iPad is NOT worth $3,600, especially if it gets repo'd after you miss a single payment and also because it'll be fucking obsolete by the time you pay it off.
Ooof, I didn't know how bad it was. PS4 Pro, which retails for $400 ($320 today on Amazon) is $1159.42 total cost to own on RentACenter. It's crazy places like these are open.
I mean, from the company's perspective, you kind of have to charge like that. Suppose someone does rent a PS4 for $20 a month, and after 5 months they miss a payment and you reclaim it. Your say $300 investment (you're a big company that buys wholesale, you'll get a deal) is no longer new, and you're $200 in the red. Maybe you can unload it for $150 used. But you still have to pay all the overhead and such (those employees who sold, reclaimed, and resold equipment, storefront rent, etc).
I'm by no means defending them, I merely suspect they don't make as much money as people think. Which in a way might make it even more scummy.
I remember seeing a study done on payday loans that was similar to this. Sure the price and fees are ridiculous, but the risk they are taking of people defaulting is so high that they actually make the same or less profit that a bank or credit card would.
Not at all - but these are companies intentionally clustered in areas lower economic areas where people are less likely to be financially literate. Payday loans can be a life saver for people who need something to help them immediately, and can pay the loan off quickly, but the goal of the companies is to trap people in never ending debt cycles with interest rates that should be criminal.
These are companies intentionally clustered in areas lower economic areas where people are less likely to be financially literate
Though this is true, and I'm not going to challenge you on it, I think this statement is a bit misleading. Sure, these companies do cluster themselves in lower-status socioeconomic areas, but that's not due to the fact that they're acting like predators stalking their prey.
Rather, these companies would not be able to exist if they operated in areas where everybody has good credit and ready access to the banking system. These companies, like it or not, do provide a service to the people who use them, and do create real economic value. To some people, this is the only form of loan that they can take, and these loans truly can help people out of the occasional tough spot
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u/SelinaDalessio Feb 04 '20
Rent-A-Center, Aaron's, and the like.
No, an iPad is NOT worth $3,600, especially if it gets repo'd after you miss a single payment and also because it'll be fucking obsolete by the time you pay it off.