The Rent-A-Center guys are banging on the neighbor's door.

[Blue-Jay]

They seem very persistant. I wonder if someone forgot to make their couch payment?

[ET Awful]

1. Even if they did, the whole Rent-A-Center corporation should be

shut down for violations of usury laws.

[LynneSin]

7. You know who those Rent crappy stuff at really high rates contribute to?

http://www.choosetheblue.com/mainFrame.php?sourceflag=1&prodcat=Home+Furnishings&backlevel=003..001Choose+The+Blue.002Household.003Home+Furnishings

All of them: Republicans

And oddly enough they're concentrated in areas with high number of folks living in or near poverty

[6000eliot]

15. There's nothing odd about it

The Republicans have a huge stake in keeping people poor. That's why they want to make more people poor by destroying the social safety net.

[Liberal Veteran]

2. RAC ought to be called Usury World.

They are such a rip off.

[seriousstan]

3. Rent-A-Center is an IQ test. If you use them, you flunk.

[Zuni]

11. Why use them when you can find all kinds of stuff at yard sales, pawn shop

Good Will or even stuff your friends or neighbors don't use?

Shop around. You will be surprised at the good stuff you find and can afford.

[David__77]

4. These companies are social parasites.

People should be alerted to the vampiric nature of these corporations. Ideally, this sort of "commerce" should be curtailed and closely regulated.

[Bluebear]

6. Amen. "Rent to own" at twice what you would paid in the first place

[Wapsie B]

17. Rent a Centers and

these paycheck loan places. Jeezus H. Christ, how many ways can they screw people and get away with it?

[UdoKier]

5. Why on earth would people rent furniture/appliances?

Just don't get it. I'm poor, so I pay in installments or use credit cards when I have to...

[Zuni]

10. I'm poor too

and I have gotten great deals on furniture by waiting for people I know to get rid of this chair here, or that table there. Hand me downs account for a large portion of my furniture and appliances and i am not ashamed---I saved some hard earned money.
I go to yard sales, Goodwill, or pawn shops or junk stores---you can find all kinds of stuff, some of it worth far more than what you pay
I have bought some, but I shop around for good deals.

I'm sorry, but using usurers like Rent A center is simply stupid. You pay far more and get hassled by them.
Use a little creativity and you will be surprised at what you get

[jswordy]

13. Dale Carnegie courses for all of you! Geez. n/tt

[LynneSin]

But that's it - people are poor but desparate

And if you see the stuff - it's all flashy oversized stuff that folks on fixed incomes dont' really need.

I live in an apartment complex in a lower-income area and there are all sorts of rental companies (Including RAC) in my area. (also plenty of check cashing, payroll loans & cartitle loans too).

When you're desparate you'll do anything to get what you need. I visited my local Rent-a-Center once just to see what they had (I would never purchase). Ironically no one working there even bothered me because I probably didn't fit the profile of someone who would use one of those places.

There were no small TVs - just really large, big screen TVs. There were no small stereo systems but oversized over powered stereo systems. Everything they rent is items that are probably more than what the average person needs but definately in the size of what people want.

I had a neighbor who went to rent-a-center for a VCR and she was setup to pay $15 week for 10 weeks for her "Rent-to-own" VCR. BTW, that $15/week does NOT include interest. This was 2003 and you can buy VCRs for less than $50 and yet this place was doing a rent-to-own VCR for $150+21% interest.

I made her take it back and went to Sears and bought her a VCR for $40. I told her to just give me the $15 a week until the VCR was paid off which would be in 3 weeks. I wouldn't have done it with anything more expensive than a $40 VCR but I did tell her I'd be happy to drive her to the local Good Will store if she needed to find other items for her apartment (Ironically those Rental places are all within walking distance of where folks live)

[jswordy]

16. It is flashy in the stores because poor people are constantly told by...

society that they are stupid and worthless (see the comments in this thread, if you do not believe me). The negative feelings and self-image these kinds of comments instill in them create a powerful desire for something material through which they can both validate themselves and show their worth to others.

That is exactly why rent to own centers are filled with shiny, bright objects. It is why a person who can barely make the high interest payments on a new car parks it next to a rundown shack.

Although God has been good to me financially, I have a lot of low income friends who are barely getting by, and I understand this powerful psychological force and how it is reinforced every single day.

Once that beaten-down person steps into an environment where he or she is "valued" by the salesperson, it is then an easy step-by-step matter to get the paperwork signed.

The practice is predatory and ought to be outlawed. It is not a case of customer stupidity, it is a proven psychological sales approach that works with this kind of "client."

Unfortunately, these rent to own companies fund many Democratic and Republican state legislators across America. Thus, they live on, virtually untouched.

[prolesunited]

8. Which neighbor?

The landlord was over at the house on the left the other day.

[Blue-Jay]

9. The neighbors with the dogs named "Slayer" & "Rocker".

They're home but they didn't come to the door. ha ha.

[Zuni]

12. What kind of dogs?

I picture Dobermans or Rottweilers.

[Blue-Jay]

14. mutts.

"Slayer" once ran me back in the front door. He's kinda evil.

[Zuni]

18. He sounds evil

BTW---I have always admired that squirrel pic. I think it is my favorite Bush pic on DU. I have no idea why, but I find it very amusing

[Historic NY]

19. It all stems from the I got to have it right now.....they play on peoples

feelings. Then again most people don't figure out they are getting scammed until its too late. Hey you can have this big screen tv right now for only 42.30 per month....no one does the math.

[goodboy]

20. why is it that the least fortunate get screwed more? Rich people

pay less for stuff than poor people do.

[Cuban_Liberal]

21. Rent-A-Center: a $500 Dell comp for 78 payments of $28.

There should be a prison for userers like them, IMO.

:grr:

[tjwash]

22. The guy's probably already paid for the couch ten times over.

What a scam those rent-a-center assholes have going on. Take some thrown away furniture they fished out of a dumpster, and make a mint on it.