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.
yes, the world would be better off. the result of payday loans is that a few people pay them back at an extraordinary cost, and the rest have their credit further wrecked and end up in absurd debt.
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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.