Credit Card Alternatives
If you don’t have the option to use a credit card or you want to stop using them, you have two other options that are similar and great for learning discipline on paying off an item.
+ The first is the ever so popular, layaway plan. This usually gives you at least 90 days to pay for an item while the store holds the item for you. You generally give a 10 % down payment for the item and have the remaining time to pay the other 90% however you prefer.
The downside is that you don’t get to take the item with you and you need to have the down payment available. You also need to budget for yourself how you are going to pay off the rest of the amount due. But, this can be a good thing as well.
Another upside is that when you walk out of the store with it, it’s yours and you didn’t pay extra financing for it. Also keep your eyes peeled for sales or clearance on the item you have on lay away as you would be able to cancel the layaway, get your money back and put the item back on layaway for the lower amount or just pay for it all at once at the lower price. A final good thing is that you are not penalized (that I know of) for canceling the layaway.
+ The second option is the “same as cash” offer that many stores have. This gives you at least 90 days if not 6 months or more to pay on the item without getting finance charges before a certain date. This is not the rent-to-own as you are paying financing immediately and HAVE to pay a certain amount every week or two.
The downside is that when you get to the end of the “free period” you are hit with finance charges starting for day one, no matter how much you paid on the free period. For instance if I buy a sofa for 1,000 and have 90 days same as cash and I pay 500 within that 90 days, on the 91st first day, the finance charges will kick in and they will be based on the full 1,000 I borrowed. And that is a big downside.
Of course the upside is better. You are able to take the item home with you to use as you pay for it. You usually have longer than 90 days to pay off the item, so that you can budget better for any issues that may come up. You also have the wonderful feeling of beating the deadline before the finance charges kick in and you can stick it to the finance companies that they didn’t make any money off of you.
The most important item to remember in both of these options is discipline. This is one way you can teach yourself and still pick up items while making payments over a period of time
Having worked retail, layaway in concept is good, but I flushed a lot of layaway merchandise that never got picked up. A person loses all their money if they aren’t minding their business.
I’m just trying to learn to live within my means as my self-discipline.
That is possible, I had never run into one like that, I guess I was thinking of Walmart when I wrote that.