Loans

Across North America, hundreds of rent to own furniture stores have been popping up over the past few years. In big and small cities alike, people can find stores such as Easy Home, Aarons, and many others. At a first glance, these stores seem great, as they help those who are unable to obtain alternative financing to furnish their homes. Best yet, theres no credit checks, and almost everyone is approved.

A quick look at Easy Home’s website reveals that you can get a computer for as low as $14 per week, a fridge for $18 per week, a new sofa set for $16 per week. This all seems pretty good doesn’t it… wrong. If you look at the total cost of the furnishings that you would purchase at these rent to home stores, its ridiculous… and I would say borders on scamming their customers.

If you have a look at an Easy Home flyer, you’re informed that the weekly rental rates are based upon an interest rate of 29.9%, which seems fair given the high risk nature of the business. However what they don’t tell you is the base rates that they’re using to calculate the 29% interest. The Flyer specifically states 29.9% interest APR based upon “product cost.” However no where are you able to find out this “Product Cost.” If you go into an Easy Home store and ask about a product cost, the employees will beat around bush without ever telling you an accurate product cost (other than a weekly rate).

For example, currently advertised on the Easy Home website is an Acer netback for $14 per week. Doesn’t seem bad… however when you multiply that by the 104 weeks of payments, it is equal to $1456. Now how much does this netback cost in Future Shop or Best Buy… it costs $199. Thats right, you’re paying 700% for this computer, meaning that their base price is something like $1200 before the interest. Other products show similar ridiculous markups.

How do they get away with this? Well basically they prey on the desperation of others and their inability to perform basic math. Is it legal? Thats where there may be an issue. In Canada, it is illegal to charge anyone more than 60% per annum interest. What Easy Home is doing is very similar to the Payday loan stores. By charging ridiculous high fees (in this case, crazy product costs) they’re able to get away with saying that their interest rate is legal.

What do you think? Easy Home or a Ripoff?

photo credit: magerleagues

You’ve got bad credit. And you need a loan. If ever there were, financially speaking, a spot between rock and a hard place, you are standing squarely on it and waiting to get squashed. Where can you go for the loan you need to pay off whatever it is you need to pay off?

Secured Vs. Unsecured Bad Credit Loans

Your first tactic should be to look for a lender who will accept anything you have to offer as collateral for a secured loan. By securing the money they loan you, the lender will have something to use to recover at least part of the bad credit loan if you should default. Home mortgages and automobile loans are secured loans; credit card lines of credit are not. (more…)

photo credit: vlauria

There are plenty of different types of loans that require no credit checks, but they often come at a price. There are hard money loans which are generally based upon the after fix up value of a property. Then there are payday loans, this is what has been all in the media as of recently.

No credit check personal loans provide a go between for low income individuals or people with really unfortunate FICO scores. this is a recent comment that was made on a web site I visited. (more…)

photo credit: stuartpilbrow

Have poor credit? Well all isn’t lost. Before I even mention some options, let it be known that I don’t recommend these sources as a long term solution. As a matter of fact, some of these businesses border on being a legal loan shark.

Payday and check cashing outlets. Almost anyone with an income qualifies. Here are some of the benefits (cough..cough) of using one of these type lenders: (more…)

photo credit: *Solar ikon*

Are you struggling to find a bank or lender that will give you a personal loan? Do you need private lenders for personal loans that can help you even though you might not have perfect credit? Typically it takes very good credit to get a personal loan from a bank, but there are other options. Here is a look at one of the best places to get a private personal loan from.

The company is called Prosper and it is solely based online. They started about 4 years ago and are the type of company that works a lot like eBay, only with money. They accept any type of credit and income and have interest rates from the lowest to the maximum allowed. There are loans all the way from $1,000 up to $25,000 and they are all unsecured personal loans from private lenders.

What they do is they allow you to sign up for free. You have to give some of your information including name, address, phone number, birth date, social security number, and a few other things. They instantly pull your credit and assign you a rating for their site. You can, then join different groups on the site and if a group accepts you there is a better chance you will get a loan with a lower rate and higher amount.

Then, you can design your own listing for individual lenders to see. You can put up a picture of yourself, tell the potential lenders what you need to loan for, and how you plan to repay it. (more…)