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Nazareth, Pa., United States

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Joe Brennan: Time to Regulate Rent-A-Centers

State Rep. Joe Brennan, D-Lehigh/Northampton, whose legislative district includes some of the poorest residents in the Lehigh Valley, has introduced legislation to regulate interest rates at rent-to-own centers.

Retailers suffer in this recession, but places like Rent-A-Center have seized on what they call "a window of opportunity," and are cleaning up with financially-distressed customers unable to get credit anywhere else.

Here's how it works, as recently explained in Toward Freedom: "A TV that sells for about $700 at a regular store is priced by Rent-A-Center at over $1500. By paying $39.99 a week for 77 weeks the TV is yours – at a final cost of almost $3100. That amounts to a 68 percent annual interest rate, or much higher if you compare it to financing the same TV you can buy for $700 at another retail store. (There may also be other fees involved at a rent-to-buy store, like a 'loss/damage waiver fee.')" Instead of paying interest, you're paying "rent."

"Since the rent-to-own industry began in the 1960s, their sales tactics and interest rates have come under scrutiny at both the state and local level," Brennan said. "Many centers charge interest rates that average 100 percent, and they often fail to disclose those rates."

Brennan's bill, H.B. 2247, would toughen rental disclosure guidelines to benefit consumers. Under the legislation, rent-to-own centers would be required to:

· Reveal all fees in the original rental/purchase agreement;
· Provide statements outlining a consumer's right to terminate an agreement without charging additional fees not previously outlined in the original rental contract as long as the property is returned in good condition;
· Provide account statements to a customer upon request without an extra charge; and
· Follow the interest rate cap in Pennsylvania's criminal usury statute that prohibits charging more than 25 percent interest.

Locally, state reps. Rich Grucela and Karen Beyer have signed on as co-sponsors.

"Most customers of rent-to-own centers are working Americans earning weekly paychecks who rent household items like televisions, major appliances and computers," Brennan said. "The rent-to-own industry often markets to the poorest 40 percent of the United States population, the segment of the population with the fewest purchasing options and who may have the greatest difficulty understanding the complicated terms of their rent-to-own agreement."

Brennan said his legislation will help protect consumers who utilize rent-to-own centers from unknowingly entering into contracts which they cannot meet.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

One reason people go there is they are criminals with shitty credit standing. They have been delinquent and defaulted on other loans. They are drug dealers with income they rather not be closely monitored.

Rent-a Centers are like loan sharks, they cater to a clientele that doesn't want anyone to ask too many questions.

Feel good legislation that has no real meaning to taxpayers.

Hey Rich and Joe how about lowering our property taxes through casino money like you promised. Somehow I think the crappy credit, drug dealing deadbeats will be alright.

Talk about screwed up priorities. This is why so many people are glad space takers like Grucela are retiring.

Anonymous said...

Screwed up priorities, indeed.

Predatory practice should be regulated, but this could end up further restricting options for this market segment. And it will likely be just another piece of show legislation for someone to campaign on.

The R-A-C clientele are like an assigned risk pool in insurance. The costs are high because there plenty of participants who will end up defaulting (some without returning the product).

Before legislators go off on a feel good, vote-buying crusade, they would be wise to ascertain the actual profit margins of these businesses. Doesn't matter if they have billions in gross revenues if they are not reasonably profitable. And, if they are not, they will disappear and those who depend on them will have even less access.

If they do press on, I hope they do a better job with enforcement than they did with HICPA. There isn't a Contractor in Northampton County that uses a contract as required by that law, and the AG's office has no mechanism to enforce that provision. They can only react after fraud has been committed. If RAC customers are going to end up in that boat, why even bother?

But I guess the politicians have to try to at least look like busy champions of the underclass.

Anonymous said...

I used to work retail, now work at RAC and so I know that our prices come from the cost of running our business and that our profits are about the same as retailers. Just Googled for profit info and found 100s of companies and lots of retailers that have higher profit margins than we do. (http://www.nasd100.com/2010/01/ranking-900-us-consumer-stocks-by-profit-margin-as-of-162010.html)

Like one of the other folks commented, selling to customers who don’t have credit is riskier, so we spend our store’s labor hour dollars making sure weekly payments are made or sometimes we have to eat the cost when payments aren’t made/products not returned. Since customers can move in and out of their rentals without any kind of penalty, we have expenses covering the cost of trucks, gas and labor hours to drop off and pick up merchandise and then repair and refurbish the products. What our customers get from using RAC helps them in different ways than retail, too.

Our customers depend on us as a resource to help make life a little better for themselves, regardless of whether they fit a particular credit profile. Renting with small weekly payments can be more affordable for people who don’t have large amounts of cash or available credit. If their fridge breaks down, we can deliver a refrigerator for $16 a week - if they find a used refrigerator from a garage sale 3 weeks later, we’ll just pick up the rented fridge (no extra charge). The article’s $$ example shows the cost when a customer pays the minimum amount until the end of an agreement and I think only ~5% of our customers do that. Most of our customers who permanently acquire merchandise through us use our 90 days Same as Cash or other early payout options. It costs customers a lot less if they pay off earlier and they know that because we’re honest - we’re clear with costs and pricing when we talk with customers - it’s on our tags, and it’s in our contracts. Without places like Rent-A-Center, life would be harder on our customers who need resources and options in a way that they can pay for them, when they’re in a pinch.

Anonymous said...

That makes sense. If there were uber profits to be had, Wal-Mart would have cornered that market by now.

Anonymous said...

I guess Brennan needs to show he did something, misguided as it is, before the election. Too bad his seat is so gerrymandered.

Anonymous said...

Our fathers and forefathers fought wars and died to insure our freedom to be stupid. Why is the purchaser of the TV in question spending $700? Easy. He or she is a moron. Perhaps it's time for some austerity and saving and credit building or rebuilding.

What other capitalistic endeavors can be seen as predatory on the poor? Generic cigarettes? Fortified wine? Lottery tickets? The dollar menu at McDonald's?

I want a law that protects the rest of us from these morons and their champions in the legislature.

Anonymous said...

Geez,you guys, whatever happened to good, old-fashioned decency? I hope Brennan's law passes. If the recent crash has taught us anything, it's that Americans of every background can be victimized by predatory lenders. We used to call that usury and we called it wrong.

Anonymous said...

the 5:41 poster must be the pin pusher running against brennan

Anonymous said...

Anon 6:54 is Bernie. he loves Brennan and was probably shocked to see that people don't give a crap about this "look how great IO am" legislation. That's the problem with guys like Grucela and Brennan, they haven't stood out on anything in Harrisburg so every now and then they pill one of these goofy things out to remind voters who they are.

How about the Casino money to lower our taxes, you know the homeowners with credit who buy their TVs.

Christ, are the Democrats praying to be thrown out of office.

Bernie O'Hare said...

I don't post anonymously and at 6:54, was on my way to a Comm'rs meeting in LC, but I do agree w/ Anon 6:54. Let's do what we can to stop predatory lending.

Anonymous said...

To the person who works at the RAC: Your post is utter bullcrap. I worked at the RAC for many years (several years ago) as an Acct Manager, Assistant MGR & Manager.I used to be in charge of our P&L Statments. I KNOW what the RAC ROI is and your post is crap.

You have been drinking the koolaid.

Anonymous said...

Well, maybe your post is utter bull crap. ROI? Are you referring to Corporate EBITDA, marginal contribution of an individual store, or what?

ROI is not a profitability measurement, Mr. Manager.