Rent to own furniture is not a new concept. This has been prevalent since the 80s. The concept is simple enough in theory: you take the furniture item from the company and pay installments either weekly or monthly and after a certain number of installments, the furniture item is yours.
The advantage is that if the furniture item is defective or not working, you can return it to the rent to own company and they will replace it for you. Often, this may even be done free of cost.
The other advantage is that you pay the installments based on your convenience - they can be weekly or monthly - depending upon the frequency of your paycheck.
The main advantage, also, is that this service can be availed by people who don't have a great credit history. In most cases, a credit check is not performed. Some companies do perform a credit check. In either case, people with bad credit do not suffer and can avail of lease to own furniture items for their homes.
If you cannot pay an installment or two, it is best in these cases to inform the company beforehand. This way, your furniture may not be repossessed. But, they may charge you extra for delayed payments.
Another disadvantage is that of the price. If one calculates the number of installments one pays for the furniture item, and the actual cost of buying that piece of furniture in one go, one realizes that one ends up paying at least two or three times the actual cost if one decides to go for rent to own furniture.
But rent to own furniture can probably be just the thing for you if you eventually see your income increasing in the near future. It can also be a good idea for those of us who want to live a certain lifestyle, but cannot afford to make all the purchases at once.
Ideally, it has been suggested that you shop around for a good rent to own company which has a customer friendly policy or scheme for lease to own furniture. This way, one can enjoy the advantages and one is not beset by the disadvantages of the scenario. Make sure you read the fine print carefully.
The ideal consumers for lease to own furniture therefore are college students, military families that are constantly in transit, corporate travelers who stay for longer time periods in a particular place due to temporary work assignments etc. These people can avail of the benefits of rent to own furniture because they need not commit to the long term prospect of owning major furniture items.
