Stop Using Credit Cards

Lets begin with the premise that paying cash is always preferred to buying on time. However, you do not have the cash to pay for it and your credit cards are completely maxed out...

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

STOP USING CREDIT CARDS

CHICAGO, IL. -- Lets begin with the premise that paying cash is always preferred to buying on time. That having been said, lets also establish that you must have this "thingamajig" or your world will collapse around you, instantly. However, you do not have the cash to pay for it and your credit cards are completely maxed out. So you decide to pay for it over time.

Of course, putting it on "layaway" still does exist. However, because of existing credit crazy methods, layaway is infrequently asked for now-a-days. But it may be a solution because there are no extra fees and no interest paid out with a layaway. You just don't get the merchandise until it is fully paid for.

Not that long ago, every major department store allowed customers to buy merchandise on layaway. The item would be placed in the back of the store and customers had months to pay it off -- interest-free. Customers hand-delivered or mailed every payment to the retailer. When they made the last payment, the item was delivered or the customer took the item home.

Parents would start paying on a child's new winter jacket in August and the coat would be home hanging in the hall closet in time for the first cold spell. From major appliances to dining room tables and televisions, everything could be put on layaway.

Layaway was especially popular around the holidays. Gifts could be hidden for weeks in the back room of the department store, where even the most ambitious of holiday snoops couldn't find them. Its never too early to start shopping for Christmas," says Robert Holland, Chief Executive of Lay-Away.com. We offer a great service to those early birds that dont want to pay for Christmas gifts 3-6 months after Christmas because of high interest rates with credit cards."

What about the rent-to-own stores? Consumers should realize that buying merchandise in rent-to-own arrangements is very expensive, Holland says in the latest issue of his Lay-Away.com newsletter. Mr. Holland urges consumers to consider less costly ways to get the items they need or want for their homes.

Consumers who need a television, major appliance or furniture but who don't have the immediate cash or credit to buy it outright may be tempted to get it from a rent-to-own store. The store lets the consumer take the item home immediately by agreeing to make a weekly or monthly payment. While this is convenient, a consumer who makes all the payments in order to purchase the item will usually end up paying double the retail price of the item.

For example, a consumer might pay $15 a week for a washing machine in a 18-month rent-to-own agreement. When all the payments were made the consumer would have paid $1,000 for the washer, which only cost $400 new. The same $400 washing machine purchased new on a layaway plan would cost the consumer nothing additional except the customer would have to wait to receive the washer until its completely paid for.

"Rent-to-own stores market to people who may think they have no other options, because of low income or bad credit. But there may be less-expensive alternatives," Holland says.
Those alternatives include buying the item on a layaway plan. You may only need a small down payment, and if layaway doesnt sound appealing try these other alternatives:
·Doing without the item until you have saved enough money to pay cash.
·Getting the item used through the classifieds.
·Borrow the money from a friend or family member.

Contact:

Jason Martin
Email: jason.m@lay-away.com
Fax: 877-804-1427