Access Plans Inc (fka APNC)

[MoneyMan]

Do Rent-to-Own Stores Hurt the Poor?

Mises Daily: Thursday, August 03, 2006 by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.

This month, the Brookings Institution released a report that condemned rent-to-own stores for allegedly preying upon consumers. Last month, the Buffalo News, as part of a series on industries that supposedly preyed upon the poor ("preying upon" evidently meaning "offering a service no one else was providing"), denounced these stores for the allegedly exorbitant monthly payments they charged their customers.

These denunciations suffer from two major flaws. First, much of their anecdotal evidence points not so much to the wickedness of rent-to-own stores as to the silly and irresponsible spending patterns of people who should watch their money more responsibly – a character flaw for which these stores are not to blame. Second, they fail to acknowledge the indispensable service that these stores provide to poor people with bad credit histories who cannot acquire the substantial items they need on any terms anywhere else.......

Continue reading at http://mises.org/story/2261