Do you have any views on rent-to-buy stores such as Brighthouse?

moohound

Is buying stuff from Bright house really so different from wasting money on 'regular' credit card and loans, in the 2 years before my DMP I 'threw away' £11000 in interest payments, and I am certainly not uneducated, why is wasting money on one type of unnecessary credit viewed more dimly than another?

NB. I know it was stupid, but people do stupid things sometimes.

[Deleted User]

hohum wrote: »

If you are poor, it's actually not insane.

Maybe not for a essential item like a washing machine, but for a luxury, like a state of the art TV, mobile phone or games console?

[Deleted User]

Herzlos wrote: »

I'd be curious as to how many (if any) customers pay up front.

Hopefully none.

hohum

moohound wrote: »

Is buying stuff from Bright house really so different from wasting money on 'regular' credit card and loans, in the 2 years before my DMP I 'threw away' £11000 in interest payments, and I am certainly not uneducated, why is wasting money on one type of unnecessary credit viewed more dimly than another?

NB. I know it was stupid, but people do stupid things sometimes.

Because class. And that we're still in thrall to moralistic Victorian ideas about poverty and debt.

http://pooreconomics.com/chapters/8-saving-brick-brick

gettingtheresometime

But BH reminds me of a conversation I had with my mum many moons ago.

She was renting her TV (and I think her video) at the time and complained about how much the rental was costing.

I sat down with her and showed her how much it was actually costing and how much she could save by buying.

She then threw up the argument about what if the TV broke - as I told her - she could throw it out and buy another one with the money she would save.

She was soon convinced!

Herzlos

moohound wrote: »

Is buying stuff from Bright house really so different from wasting money on 'regular' credit card and loans, in the 2 years before my DMP I 'threw away' £11000 in interest payments, and I am certainly not uneducated, why is wasting money on one type of unnecessary credit viewed more dimly than another?

NB. I know it was stupid, but people do stupid things sometimes.

Credit cards generally have lower interest (I've seen cards as high as 50% APR - BH charges ~70 to ~90% APR)
Credit cards have flexible repayment
Credit cards let you pay a fair amount for the goods in the first place.

Sensible borrowing is fine, but BH seems to encourage irresponsible borrowing.

Pixie5740

moohound wrote: »

Is buying stuff from Bright house really so different from wasting money on 'regular' credit card and loans, in the 2 years before my DMP I 'threw away' £11000 in interest payments, and I am certainly not uneducated, why is wasting money on one type of unnecessary credit viewed more dimly than another?

NB. I know it was stupid, but people do stupid things sometimes.

No it's not really any different.

Buying a depreciating asset (car) on finance is not that much different to buying something from BH.

It's just that companies such as BH get hammered for being unfair to "poor" people. Just like companies like McDonalds are blamed for people being fat.

My main bugbear with BH is not so much the high interest rates but that the starting price of the goods is about twice as much as any other retailer.

I can understand people needing a washing machine or a fridge freezer (although you could possibly pick one up from the British Heart Foundation, Freecycle or Gumtree for less) but paying £1,300 for a PlayStation whether that's through BH or by purchasing it on a credit card and then entering the death spiral of debt consolidation loans (shudder) is eye watering.