John Bogna
If you’re a Texan looking to buy new furniture for your home, you may want to reconsider renting to own:
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According to a joint report by the Texas Tribune and NerdWallet, there is a Texas law allowing companies, like Rent-a-Center, to pursue criminal charges against you for failures to make payments on your financed furniture.
This differs from debt going to collection, which is handled in civil court and could result in repossession of items, but not criminal charges.
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The law, reportedly decades old, allows companies to file theft charges against their customers if they should default on their payments, meaning a criminal offense report on your record, jail time and a possible felony theft charge, according to the Tribune.
Even if you already paid more than they original amount purchased for their furniture when they stop making payments, you could still be on the hook.
Companies demand more money, and threaten to file charges if they don’t get it, reports show.
For example, Austin resident Melinda Sandlin said she already paid $3,000 for a bedroom set at Discount Furniture, a subsidiary of Rent-a-Center, when she found out she would be forced to pay $5,000 more to be able to keep it.
She said the furniture’s original value stood around $2,700, and the company threatened to press charges over the phone during an argument about the money, which she reocrded.
“We have to resolve this or we do file theft charges,” Sandlin said a representative of Acceptance Now’s rent-to-own told her.
Some people say they aren’t aware rent-to-own companies file charged against them with local police:
In another instance, one couple who said they rented from Aaron’s only found out about the charges as a result of the Tribune report, which the company eventually dropped after reportedly receiving partial payment.
Rental companies maintain this standard of operation is required to protect them from customers who rent their product without the intention to return it.
“What are we supposed to do, just write off that each time a customer skips out on us?” Darrell Perkins, manager of Advantage Furniture in McLennan County, said asking in an interview.
Thousands of Houstonians are still putting their lives back together after Harvey, with some are still waiting on repairs to be made to their homes, for some of which places, like Aaron’s or Rent-a-Center, could mean an affordable option to refurnish their homes.
Should they choose to go that route, however, experts agree, it is vital they carefully read their contract and know they can make the payments first.
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Furthermore, in some instances, it could be cheaper to simply buy new from furniture places or consignment stores.
Watch out for the fine print, y’all.
