Be careful about financing!

Today I was working with a couple at the store who needed to finance their purchase. They did not quality for our usual financing so I was trying to help them by finding an alternative form. There was a company I had previously used and could not remember why I had stopped using them. I knew the couple would qualify for their financing terms, so I started the process.

The couple was hoping to pay their purchase off in 12 months and wondered what the payments might be. I remembered this company had a 90 day same as cash or terms for 12 months. I had never used the 12 month program, so was not familiar with it. When I asked them about the financing for 12 months, he said it would be 15% x 12 for the financing! I was confused and asked if he meant 15% for the entire purchase? He said yes, it is 15% times the entire purchase x 12 months!! 


In other words, for a $1000 purchase it would be $1000 x 15% = $150 x 12 months = $1800 of INTEREST!! That's more than the purchase! Then you still have to pay the $1000 purchase! So now your $1000 purchase costs $2800 because you took more than 90 days to pay!

You know what else? If you take 91 days to pay you will still have to pay the $2800! It's all or nothing! You are either within the 90-day-same-as-cash or you are not! No in between! That just stinks!!

Now what do you think about easy financing? Next time before you sign on the dotted line, be sure to read the fine print and ask a lot of questions! Or better yet, just come to Bed Mart! I promise I won't let you spend that much on financing!