So you want or need to buy new furniture, but you don’t have a big budget to work with. You’re not alone in facing this issue, trust us. Right now, about half of all Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, which means that when big purchases like furniture become necessary, a lot of people don’t have much extra money to spare. An additional issue that can occur when people live paycheck to paycheck is that they often consider buying their furniture used, often from less than ideal sources. Used furniture often has less of a lifespan remaining than new furniture, which means that in the long term it can actually be more expensive. And if you buy from a less reputable seller, you may be buying furniture that is dirty or even dangerous to use.
Fortunately, there is an option available that doesn’t involve buying furniture outright and allows you to buy furniture new. This option is rent to own furniture. Sometimes known as lease-purchase programs, the option through which you can rent furniture with the purpose of buying it in the future may be intimidating if you don’t know much about it. That’s why we’re looking into the benefits below.
1. Little Money Required Upfront
You may be thinking that rent to own furniture sounds like a great option… but you still don’t have a lot of money available for a down payment. Have no fear. Renting furniture to eventually buy it in the future is not like financing a house or a car. Much of the time, you don’t need to put a down payment down initially. Rather, you pay processing fees upfront, and then move on to making your regular rental payments month to month. These payments will be put towards the overall price of the furniture until eventually the furniture is paid off and you own it in full.
2. It’s Available for People with Bad Credit
A lot of the time, people are rejected for financing options because they have bad credit. Bad credit can arise after you fail to make regular payments for things for which you owe money. A lot of people have bad credit simply because they don’t always have enough money to make payments on time. Unfortunately, once they do, their bad credit histories still follow them around. Lease to own programs are available for people with bad credit histories, as they do not function in the same way as traditional furniture and appliance financing programs. But you also need to think about how these options actually are great for rebuilding credit. Because you’re making rental payments that you can afford, you’ll be able to make your payments on time regularly. This can greatly improve your credit history relatively quickly.
3. Flexibility
As previously mentioned, the goal for most when paying for rent to own furniture is to eventually own the furniture in full. The payments that you make count towards the overall value of the furniture, which means that if you keep up with your payments you can eventually own it outright. But if you decide that owning the furniture isn’t quite right for you, it’s your right to stop making payments and return the furniture. In most cases, there is no penalty for quitting your payments as long as you return the furniture. You have the flexibility to stop paying when you wish.
4. Short Approval Systems
Because rent to own furniture is available for people with bad credit histories, the approval processes are often fairly short. You can often be approved for rent to own furniture on the same day that you apply for it, sometimes within minutes. This means that if you see furniture that you like in the store, you can apply for rent to own programs and walk out of the store knowing that you’ve secured your furniture. It makes the process much shorter and more streamlined.
There are clearly a lot of options available in terms of renting furniture to own it. Before buying subpar furniture or spending too much at once, why not consider lease to own programs first?
