I Know, I know, big screen TV's are all the rage and just about everybody wants one. I want one myself, but I'll be a fat man if I let a store, like one of these huge chains is doing, buy me one. Just what am I talking about, you ask? I'm talking about one of these national chain electronics stores taking advantage of the childish need some of us have for IG (Instant Gratification). These boys want you to come to their store and buy yourself a big screen TV. You do want one, don't you? Your friends (who, by the way, won't the ones PAYING for it) want you to have one, don't they? You'll be considered cool, tech-savvy and successful if you have one, won't you? So why not just drop on down to your friendly neighborhood loan shark and get yourself hooked up?
Well, here's the reason why not. This national chain is offering to buy the TV for you. Or, more appropriately, they'll let you take one home on them. You can keep it and watch it until you realize you really didn't need it as badly (or as soon) as you thought you did. You don't have to pay and they won't charge you any interest. Not for 18 months, that is, and believe me, by then the "magic' will have long since worn off, not to mention that by then you will probably be able to get a better TV for less than what you will now discover you owe! That's when you had better get a garage door opener for your nose, because you're going to start paying through it!
It's simple. You buy a big screen now (which must cost at least a thousand bucks to qualify for this dubiously great deal). You start paying in 18 months. But here's the killer, they are going to choke you for between 25% and 30% interest!!! (better add a few more of those !!!!!). Come on, do you REALLY need (as in "need") a big screen TV so bad that you are willing to put up with that kind of a beat down?
Hey, it's your money, and you are certainly free to do whatever your heart desires with it, but I think you ought to know about this exorbitant interest rate, before you let your eyes get as big as that screen you're dreaming about and you wind up getting sharked. Just don't get hooked into one of these get-now-pay-later plans to buy a big screen without reading the small print. This is at least as bad as that rent-to-own junk.
Technology is wonderful...but not that wonderful.