In America, Why the Poor Pay $4,158 For a $1,500 ‘Rent-to-Own’ Sofa
- Thread starter MidwestD
- Start date
Dog in a nutshell:
I've said this so often breh. We are a society dedicated to instant gratification. I find such irony that the key to success in life is staying consistent, yet the hardest thing to do in life is be consistent. Save every week, eat right and exercise, study. All easy to do and all pay off from being consistent, over time, yet our country is dominated by broke, fat uneducated people. Why is that? Because all the rewards from hard work take too long to pay off. It's all about right now.
UserNameless
Veteran
I learned this shyt the hard way, with my first cc, at 18. It taught me a lot about how unfair life can be, but also the importance of ownership verse leasing....
The reason the status quo continues is because people love to complain in a meaningless way, but rarely take it a step further by problem solving and almost never act on the posed course of action.
So since this is such a horrendous thing. . . come up with an alternative business model that allows a business owner to make money without squeezing every last penny from the already poor, while mitigating risk from low-income buyers. Clearly there's a gap in the market you could fill.
Or work on educating the consumer. Or work on lobbying the government to enforce stricter regulations that control usury in these situations.
So since this is such a horrendous thing. . . come up with an alternative business model that allows a business owner to make money without squeezing every last penny from the already poor, while mitigating risk from low-income buyers. Clearly there's a gap in the market you could fill.
Or work on educating the consumer. Or work on lobbying the government to enforce stricter regulations that control usury in these situations.
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
Dog in a nutshell:
I've said this so often breh. We are a society dedicated to instant gratification. I find such irony that the key to success in life is staying consistent, yet the hardest thing to do in life is be consistent. Save every week, eat right and exercise, study. All easy to do and all pay off from being consistent, over time, yet our country is dominated by broke, fat uneducated people. Why is that? Because all the rewards from hard work take too long to pay off. It's all about right now.
Back to reality you could work and save your entire life and still be poor when you retire.
DonFrancisco
Your Favorite Tio!
Do you think there should be a cap on how much rent stores should have? I argue for a 40% interest rate cap.
Of course the economic effect of price ceiling might have more rent-to-own companies capping their interests at 40%.
I see what you mean but elaborate on your logic homie. I'm curious why you think government shouldn't protect it.
DonFrancisco
Your Favorite Tio!
On one hand, if you're poor you probably shouldn't be buying iPads/laptops/high-end electronics etc.
On the other, predatory lending practices are some of the most evil demonic schemes ever created
I think a laptop is almost essential these days especially to help middle and high school kids with HW. Honestly with many populated red states cutting back on funding, it makes it hard for public schools to stay open past school time or to issue student's laptops to do HW. I know a lot of universities' rent out laptops to work-class or poor students. This allows them to at least have a laptop and place to study when they need it. Since universities usually rent out laptops past normal business hours, it kind of helps to close the gaps for students that can and cannot afford laptops.
Last edited:
You Win Perfect
bow down
yeah right. why don't they just save up the 200K instead of taking out a mortgage
furniture is expensive as hell. I was lucky enough to have family members donate their extra shyt or i wouldn't have half the shyt in my house right now.
ill
Superstar
I'll take back the laptop part, you both are correct imo. I meant it in more of a way like people buy shyt outside of their means that they don't need. But yeah, laptops are def needed.
DonFrancisco
Your Favorite Tio!
I agree with you actually on that whole people buying outside their needs. It is easier for an engineer to buy a 52in HDTV than some guy working at UPS worker making $12 an hour but due to mass media commercial are aimed at both. In fact the engineer and the UPS guy might be spending beyond their means since they might not be that financially educated. From what I know statistically, around 70% of people are considered financially illiterate so for them, they will only think in the short-term and buy that luxury item that isn't needed. The rent-to-own industries markets and preys on that financial illiteracy.
I used to work in a start-up tire distribution center. Time and time again our largest per unit profit came from individual purchasers that would overpay for rims and tires. In fact many of those people weren't well off or had great cars. One time I had a guy in a 96 Mustang want top of the line rims. I was shocked because the cost of the rims was probably worth more than the depreciated value on that Mustang. Our most profitable segments were the hoods of Houston, which kind of made me feel guilty that I was basically the marketing coordinator and I was aiming our marketing efforts toward economically depressed areas.
cousin bought a car, he'll have to pay 3/2 times the price of the car in LOANS...thats after he gave them a 8 thousand down payment. I tried to talk him into looking around for different car with the 8G(no monthly payment) he already had or flat out buy a brand new car(with a co-signer) . But dude ignored my advice, went out and bought himself a used car(3 years old then)
.I was
when i calculated the total value breh is going to be paying for the car + the down money he paid. They also got him for some bullsht warranty(3 thousand) which was the only thing he was able to force the dealership to take off. nikka looked like he was to cry once i told him how much money he actually spent on that car.
Last edited:
Back to reality? Reality is doing nothing is idiotic. Reality is most people do nothing and expect jesus or the lotto to save them. Reality is doing something, however small, can make a difference.
88m3
Fast Money & Foreign Objects
Back to reality? Reality is doing nothing is idiotic. Reality is most people do nothing and expect jesus or the lotto to save them. Reality is doing something, however small, can make a difference.
Is this supposed to mean something?