Isn’t that the truth? That’s what I call “Truth in Advertising”. If you buy now without paying for it, you will most likely PAY later.
We’ve all heard it before. 90 days same as cash! Nothing down and no payments for 6 months! Companies do this out of the generosity of their hearts… don’t they? Not hardly. What they know is that statistics show that the vast majority of people won’t pay it off in 90 days, or 6 months, or WHATEVER time frame they are given. Life happens. The car breaks down. The kids need new shoes. It was a cold month. Something always comes up and you don’t get it paid off in time.
So then what happens? Well, the next thing you know, you’re now paying interest on that couch or TV you just had to have. Often you’re paying rates of 20% or more to boot! But here’s the real kicker. The interest is retroactive to the day you signed up for the “loan”. That’s really what you did when you signed that paper. If it was really getting “something for nothing” do you think they’d make you sign a paper? Now you’ve got one more payment tacked on to those payments you’re already having trouble meeting. Your $1000 TV that you were getting to use “for free” for 6 months now ends up costing you $2000… OR MORE!
There’s just something about crisp green bills that makes a person think harder about whether they really need that new washing machine. Anyone can “sign here and here, and initial here”, but what if you saved up for those 90 days, or 6 months and then pulled out that stack of crisp hundred dollar bills? After 6 months of holding on to those bills, don’t you think it would be a little harder to part with them? Don’t you think you might think twice about handing them over? And then if you decide that it IS worth it, won’t it be nice to not have the department store follow you home for the next six months? Buy now… and be done with it.