Aaron's.....

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Lyfer

Lyfer

Diamond Member
May 28, 2003
5,842
2
81
So I was cleaning the kitty box and was going through the newspaper and came across an Aaron's Ad. Baby Jesus the prices are ridiculous, seems almost as bad as those Indian casino loans.

Do people actually buy stuff at those prices?
 
kranky

kranky

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
21,019
156
106
Their target market is people who want something now, have bad credit, and only care about the monthly payment. They may lack the basic math skills to really understand how much that "easy credit" is costing them. Or they may simply have to have an essential item (refrigerator, e.g.) because theirs is broken and have no other options but rent-to-own.

People who have options (credit cards, choose to save in advance then pay cash) are not Aaron's customers.
 
waggy

waggy

No Lifer
Dec 14, 2000
68,143
10
81
LTC8K6 said:
Fingerhut...
Click to expand...

fingerhut is not as bad as aarons. I keep getting ads from Aarons in the paper. you pay nearly double the price.

with fingerhut you pay about %30 more. so the price of a shitty CC.


or is there something with fingerhut i am missing from the site?
 
P

PokerGuy

Lifer
Jul 2, 2005
13,650
201
101
Aarons has a specific target market: those who have bad credit and can't / won't wait to save up enough money to buy something outright. The stuff they sell is generally complete garbage and the markups would make a loan shark proud.
 
kranky

kranky

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
21,019
156
106
Now that I think about it, I have a friend who at the time was probably the ideal Aaron's customer.

He was disabled and unable to work. Took over a year for him to be approved for Social Security Disability, meanwhile he was living in a Section 8 apartment. Credit was trashed. When he was approved for disability, that meant he got a lump sum for retroactive payment as well as ongoing monthly payments. He hoofed down to Aaron's and got a washer, dryer, TV, and laptop on rent-to-own. He had none of these things up until then.

Used the retro payment to catch up with overdue bills, and knew the monthly checks would cover his Aaron's payments. He simply wasn't going to wait months longer to have those things just to avoid paying more. I think after two years he owns them.

I wonder how Aaron's protects themselves from people renting expensive stuff and then selling the items to unsuspecting buyers and skipping town.
 
S

swanysto

Golden Member
May 8, 2005
1,949
9
81
Aaron's doesn't always make out like bandits. There are quite a few families that move back to countries like Mexico, and they usually go to Aaron's to furnish their future houses in a different country. Rent-a-center gets the same treatment.
 
LTC8K6

LTC8K6

Lifer
Mar 10, 2004
28,520
1,575
126
V

Vdubchaos

Lifer
Nov 11, 2009
10,408
10
0
kranky said:
I wonder how Aaron's protects themselves from people renting expensive stuff and then selling the items to unsuspecting buyers and skipping town.
Click to expand...

They probably farm out Finance portion to some bank or company that goes after these people.

So the second someone "buys" it they get their money and company #2 has the "chase if need maybe" on their shoulders.
 
LTC8K6

LTC8K6

Lifer
Mar 10, 2004
28,520
1,575
126
They used to like to wait until you were close to owning the item, and then repossess it, until a few legal challenges.
 
highland145

highland145

Lifer
Oct 12, 2009
43,973
6,334
136
Vdubchaos said:
They probably farm out Finance portion to some bank or company that goes after these people.

So the second someone "buys" it they get their money and company #2 has the "chase if need maybe" on their shoulders.
Click to expand...
They finance/collect in house. No third party company would be in their right mind to back a sales finance unless they were the ones doing the approvals. They sell their bad debt though....pennies on the dollar, I'm sure.
 
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