Rent To Buy Shops Rip Off Poor

Rent To Buy Shops Rip Off Poor.

Children’s charity Barnardo’s has warned that families on low incomes are being exploited by so-called rent-to-buy deals that charge more than double what High Street retailers charge.

According to Barnardo’s, consumers were paying up to 150% more for some standard household appliances.  It cited a 3-year rental arrangement with a well-known weekly payment store that cost £1,074 for a fridge freezer, compared with a High Street price for the same product of £430.

Barnardo’s are calling on the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) to address this market, but according to the OFT, the kinds of action needed to effect real change, such as intervening in the market to expand the availability of credit, were outside of the OFT's remit.