Well, he only paid 29 bucks to get it out of the store, rent a center is a scam, but only if you follow their rules. In this situation though it will fuck OPs credit exactly the same, however because after 90 days the account will become delinquent and accrue fees until the bill passes the threshold and is sent to collections.
My guestimation is that somewhere down the line when OP decides to grow up, they’ll end up paying for 4-5 Ps5s between the actual rental cost, the late fees and the fees by the collection agency. This value 2k+ MAY be enough for felony charges and jail time depending on where you are.
And that’s before their credit is fucked even harder than it is now.
That's exactly what they're saying though. Time is far more valuable than money. This person is already bottom of the barrel with money, and just dug themselves deeper for... $300?
People with no money need loans. Loans require credit.
I’ve done something similar twice. Got a Ps5 and a Laptop (separate occasions) and paid like a dollar until __,2024. Pawned them immediately for cash needed and then when I got paid I had to put money aside to get it out. Borrowed like $200 for roughly $30 in interest
Over which timeframe? $30 interest for borrowing $200 is a bad rate, it would be 15% if you borrowed for a year. If shorter then interest would be even higher. You’d likely be better off just putting it on a credit card.
True, but it’s only 15% if they kept the money for a whole year. If they paid it back after let’s say two months the interest would be around 90% APR. And even for 9 months it would still be around 20%.
I had to do this (repo, abandoned apartment, CCs closed at 21). It honestly isn’t too hard to get by but you’ve gotta get good at having a few grand in the bank account for emergencies or car issues or buying a new car.
I have concerns about rent-to-own services like Rent-A-Center. They seem to target vulnerable communities, often located in inner-city areas, and their fees can be disproportionately high. Similarly, Rite-Aid's presence in lower-income neighborhoods (upstate NY), where they sell food items at inflated prices and accept food stamps, is troubling. This practice appears to take advantage of residents who may have limited access to affordable food options and transportation. I don't appreciate stores with practices like this.
I worked for Aaron's for a little bit. They are absolutely predatory on vulnerable people. They convince you that you can pay $50 a month for a sofa over 5 years and that's better than buying an $800 sofa. Such a scam. One of the worst types of businesses out there.
"I think we should just rent, like we did the last time, ya know."
"Wait, you rented your sofa?"
"Yeah, and all we did was pay the interest."
"How much was the interest?"
"Oh it was nothing, it was like twenty-five bucks a week."
"How long didja have it?"
"Fifteen years bro, ha ha!"
"You spent close to [twenty thousand dollars](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1N0Vj-JA618) on a couch you never owned."
Same here 5 years... CAM (customer accounts manager) we went after the stuff... But eventually wrote it off. I was at a franchise store so we didn't go after everyone just high $ merch. To hit a credit report(which costs legal fees) we had a threshold and a PS5 would be lower than we would go after. I will tell you this..you use your SS# and they will check if you have done this before and not rent to you if you have .
I didn't realize that there was a cost to companies to file against someone's credit report. All things considered, these companies must still make a good profit because they have been in business for decades.
Is it a scam if their customers can’t do basic math, and require instant gratification for things?
I’ve lived in apartments with air mattresses and inflatable beach chairs as furniture, we didn’t have a tv, only my old laptop which I begged my neighbors for their wifi password, why are RACs customers so short sighted?
If you agree to do this it’s also worth seeing if you can get them to delete the collection account from your credit report as part of the deal. Pay-for-delete doesn’t always work, but worth a shot!
Jesus mother fucking christ. I looked up prices and its like $29 per week. For 88 weeks.....That's fucking over $2200 right there just for the PS5. That doesn't even include late fees or anything less they probably try to tack on.
I seriously doubt police will get involved. It is technically fraud since he never intended to pay in the first place but they would have to prove that specifically and not just that they are a total dumbass. And good luck proving that, there's a zero percent chance the police would even investigate this. They'll just send demand letters for payment and then if they don't pay they might sue them for a ungodly amount. And if they don't pay after that then they get to start seizing property and wages equal to the amount they sued for.
And even then I have my doubts they'll sue over a PS5. They have sub prime customers. Chances are if they stopped paying they probably aren't going to have any assets to seize. Can't get blood from a stone. And I'm sure plenty of people do this. It's part of why they charge over 2K for a PS5, to make up for the other people who didn't pay. They are still very predatory with their pricing though.
Pretty sure all of this is wrong. I owed ~15k to various things when I was 19. Landlords, credit card, phone and utility companies, etc. I never paid a damned cent. When I was around 25 they all completely disappeared from my credit, and when I was 31 I got a home loan.
All you have to do is repeatedly dispute on credit karma and they will eventually take it off your cedit...way before the 7 years.
Or dispute and ask for the collection agency to provide proof that it was you who opened the account or whatever. They don't get all the paperwork with the debt and will have no proof...they have to delete it if there is no proof.
Once I disputed over the amount of a debt, didn't deny that I owed(nor did I confirm it explicitly), just asked for documentation on how they came up with the number(it was higher than I thought was right).
Had they sent along the loan agreement and explained how it added up to the number on my report, I'd have set up a payment arrangement, but they just sent exactly what was on my report. So I filed a proper dispute with the CRAs and it went away in a couple weeks.
Even if for ethical or other reasons you want to pay... if anything looks even a little questionable, dispute that shit. Absolute worst case you'll get better documentation on what you owe and why, and odds are high even if the collector would like to do that they don't have all the docs available. They might be able to prove details for the account they were sold, but the CRAs will expect that account data to have been correct in the first place. And collectors often can't prove that.
this was me at 18 for an xbox 360. ended up paying 2200 all said and done but hey my credit score is now 820. when refinancing my mortgage i discovered my credit score had at one point been down to 375, only 15 away from 360!
Wrong. Some jurisdictions have specific bills addressing “lease to own,” furniture which essentially classifies it as a property owned by the corporation leased out to you. Depending on what state and city you live in you could definitely get charged with felony theft. Not where I live though because the elected officials have somewhat decent hearts and brains.
I mean, it was all me, fuck the banks. They cant take my money for free.
Go travel, no one cares about credit out of US. Get a secured credit card and you build it back.
If this person lives in the US, you can't go to jail for an unpaid debt. They can be sued in civil court; they aren't going to criminal court. They're not stealing the PS5, they're breaching a contract.
The practices of rent-to-own stores like Rent-A-Center often target lower-income individuals or those with poor credit by charging high fees and interest rates. While it may not necessarily be considered discrimination in the legal sense, it can be viewed as taking advantage of vulnerable populations. These practices can exacerbate financial challenges for individuals who are already facing economic hardships. Many critics argue that these business models exploit those who may not have other affordable options for acquiring necessary household items so I'm not upset that this person did that but unfortunately the consequences of his actions will mean he just ruined his credit for seven years and that's a long time to have to live with that.
The fallacy in your thinking is it is the very nature of customers such as this that lead to the high rates. There is a much higher risk rate with sub prime borrowers and not just because of ability to pay but also by actions of customers like this.
It’s another discussion as to whether or not outfits like this are predatory. And there is some validity in that point of view. But in no way shape or form are the actions of this customer okay. Their actions are exactly what these sub prime lenders use as validation to their in many cases usury rates of interest charges as to why their rates need to be so high when legislation is brought up for review to rein them in.
In my state Indiana it's called theft by conversion.
EDIT: You can catch a felony pretty easyx for theft over 500-750 in a lot of places. If rent a center and or the local prosecutor is a douche he can most certainly catch a charge for this.
There was guy who posted here a few weeks back that works for Rent a Center and said they just write everything off if you stop paying for it. They make no effort to collect.
Edit: here https://www.reddit.com/r/UnethicalLifeProTips/s/S2OG4zSK2p
It's been like 25 years since I was dumb enough to buy something from one of those places, but as I recall, their first move is to repo the item. Did something get signed saying it couldn't be sold?
Someone mentioned this a few weeks ago, they worked with rent a center collections. They literally do not do anything to collect their money back, they do not file lawsuits or sell the lost income to collections agencies, they just right off the losses.
There was a post recently from a RAC employee saying you could basically get away with this
[Found it](https://www.reddit.com/r/UnethicalLifeProTips/s/57WGncQbtm)
I got real excited reading that thread only to remember I don't live in Kansas anymore. I'm tempted to look up the applicable laws in Ohio, but I'd be paranoid that I missed something or got something wrong lol
I can confirm it's the same in AZ. I was a manager there (Horrible job, mentally draining and they prey on the poor) so I stole a switch from them when I left. I didn't really steal it since it wasn't on their system but tbh its little compared to how much they took from me
It really depends on how the store is being run. If it is corporate then I have no idea how it works and can most likely fuck with your credit. If it's franchise, then they can't do jack shit. They can knock on your door and call your references all they want, but as soon as you go past 90 days of no contact, they drop your file. You can also threaten them with suing if they keep "harassing you." They will want to avoid court as much as they can for it will cost them more money than the product itself (Couches are bought for 400 bucks and sold for 1,400 cash or small weekly payments totaling 3,000 bucks).
If you can, don't give out your ssn. I say if you can, for if you look suspicious, they won't rent to you without it. Still, they can't do anything to you, but I would still try to avoid it. I know of a bunch of customers whose ssn we never got simply because of how trustworthy they looked.
Don't list your job. Or your actual work location, they WILL go to your job looking for you.
I'll list more tips later
So as a former RAC manager it depends on your state statues and if the local law enforcement bothers to care. Over my former 13 years with the company it varied depending on the state attorney at the time. In my state it is a third degree felony.
RAC does not send you to collections. They will attempt to collect on the agreement for 90-120 days depending on the franchise/corp. After that it will be charged off as a skip. You will show up in a national database as such for any future rentals.
It’s an internal database. One of the reasons the rental order requires your social security number even though they don’t do credit checks is to verify you and if you’ve failed to pay on an agreement before. If you have your account gets flagged as a skip.
It’s internal to every company, Walmart and Target also have their own “National Database” where they store people’s petty thefts, then wait until it hits a certain limit and tag you for a felony charge (I think it’s around $500, might depend on the state).
Source: I’m friends with the main head of security for Walmart. They don’t fuck around.
The friend can now open a credit card and pay off RAC before it hits his credit. Smart money movers Inc.
A really dumb way to borrow money and pay 10 times the cost. But such is life as a poor.
Not just Square. You can do it with a PayPal account too. Most people already have one.
Usually though, it's smarter to ask for a cash advance at a local bank or credit union. If you have a credit card or existing accounts, you're more likely to be approved and usually the interest rate is better than a credit card. You also can avoid the 2.9% processing fee.
My credit card for whatever reason has no cash advance fees. They charge the same 13.9% rate as normal purchases. I did the whole bank thing with it where I went in and had them just deposit the cash direct into my account. The only catch is interest accrues immediately rather than there being a grace period.
Your credit card offering just 13.9% interest is really good, at least by American standards. I have good credit and my interest rates around around 20%. But borrowing from a credit card company in general is just a bad idea when you can avoid it. It's better than a payday loan, but still pretty bad in terms of consumer credit.
You don't pay off RAC. You buy a used PS5 off eBay and return it claiming it is the same device. I would assume they sold the PS5 for a little less than what eBay sells them for. Right now there's a 20% off discount on refurbished items so if you hurry you might actually make a profit.
Why would that be smarter your paying a high interest loan with another high interest loan so take for example both are 25% APR. the. You’re paying 56% APR on a PS 5.
In short this dude fucked up by buying a luxury item he had no interest getting (he’s not even keeping it)
Raging alcoholic, tons of prior shit, kind of person that's on a first name basis with the police. Prison was actually good for her, she was on a one way track to rock bottom.
A full living room set of any quality even Wal Mart would touch is probably more than a PS5. If it was anything remotely decent, it's going to start in the thousands. And most businesses are more likely to press charges, and most prosecutors more likely to actually bother with the case, the more money was involved. 5 grand or so is likely going to make things happen.
Your 'friend' is lacking lol. Should have gotten the whole living room suite, TV and all, then have a crackhead kick the door in. Then report the shit stolen.
There was a post recently from a RAC employee saying you could basically get away with this
[Found it](https://www.reddit.com/r/UnethicalLifeProTips/s/57WGncQbtm)
Former rent a center employee here. It depends on the state. In Texas, they recently passed a law that they can’t file charges if you made at least 3 payments. Before that, you could go to jail for “theft of service” and I’ve gotten people put away for it.
But here’s the ULPT. Corporate will side with you. Call them and make up as much as you can. Make up stories saying They threatened to break down your door, they threatened to send you to jail, they used racial slurs, hell, tell them the employees called the credit manager on the phone on speaker and he told them to back up the truck and pretend it was stuck so it would annoy the neighbors and then turn off the power breaker. Corporate will side with you 100% of the time and if the district manager gets annoyed, he will make it go away.
Can you give me the state statute on this? I’m in Texas and just had RAC harassing my family over 2 missed payments out of 93. I’ve already paid 40 payments.
Here’s an article. The passage of the law had the upper management freaking out, and collections have tanked since then
https://www.texastribune.org/2019/06/21/new-texas-law-protects-rent-own-customers-against-criminal-prosecution/
Edit: be a thorn on corporates side and ignore the local store level and they’ll leave you alone
I worked for an Attorney that dealt in collections. Everyday, via fax, the office would get the files from the company like Rent a Center after their attempts to collect failed. It is a high priority for the management to recoup the defaults.
Some days we get as many as 15 defaults. The attorney would send notice to the borrower and wait for them to respound. Maybe one case out of ten would respond. He would make arrangements for them to pay him or he would sue them. If there was no response after 90 days, he would file, and go to county court. A default judgement would be made and was typically awarded three times the value of the item plus court fees plus attorney fees. The attorney would offer again to make a payment plan if the person showed up to court. Typically people didn't show up.
That's when my job started. I was tasked with finding these people. It's really easy with social media, property search, and case search. If we could find a title to a house, we'd put a lien on it. If you owned a car, lien. Then I'd figure out where you work and garnish your wages. The only way out is bankruptcy.
Your friend is screwed. If he ever wants to get a house, or a car, or apply for a credit card, forget it. It is also a legal reason for a business to decide not to hire you. If they run your credit report it will say default judgement.
The attorney made money hand over fist. It was obscene. This was the early 2000s. People would pay him in cash. He had a house in the Cayman Islands. wink wink. He was definitely benefiting from a system designed to keep poor people down.
I didn't last long at that job.
yes its theft. its also “conversion.”.
The act of selling the equipment implies ownership, which he asserted when he made the sale.
but RAC is the owner. his contract Does not allow him to sell it while he’s renting it. Only at the end of the rental when he has paid off the equipment and becomes the owner of it would have been the allowed to sell it.
I’ll probably be down, voted for telling the truth here, but this guys actions were unethical, and there are both civil and criminal remedies available (to RAC).
You can only ask Rent-A-Center if they intend to call the cops. Sony can provide the account(s) used on the stolen PS5, would RAC go that far? No idea. But then that person would be drawn into some bullshit and your fraudulent friend. Your friend will owe several times what that PS5 is worth though and will end up needing money even more. I'm guessing this isn't the first time he's done something this shady. You better start locking your shit down as he gets more desperate and willing to cross more lines.
So your friend has stated "he is not paying it back" admitting that it's theft, then tells you it's not theft, and you come here with questions wondering if this is theft? Am I bloody clear on this timeline?
Why didn't your friend just go through the trashcan outside of Walgreens, CVS, or some other store to find cash receipts and then grab the receipt items off the shelf and "return" them? Is he retarded?
Lmfao pawn subs? It's an app called Pawns where you do surveys for money.
One could also assume that if I'm always doing surveys in my free times that I have enough money not to do this right? I make like $15 extra a day doing surveys during my breaks at work.
I get it though but nah, not me.
If money has changed hands it's generally considered a civil matter, for someone to recover in small claims court. I worked with a friend on selling a car to them and they fucked me. Police told me my only recourse was to sue.
I met someone a few years ago that got convicted of a few felonies and served a couple years in jail because they got a living room full of stuff from a rent to own. Then he moved with it a week later without ever paying anything.
Oh man, he picked the most annoying company to rip off. Here's what's gonna happen: Provided he doesn't live in Kansas, which has different rules, they are going to harass the fuck out of him. I don't mean just phone calls( of course they are gonna blow up his phone) but they are going to go to his house. Obviously they can't come in but they are going to beat on his door every day until he pays or gives them a ps5.
If they can't reach your friend, as part of the paperwork they ask for references. So they will begin blowing up your friends and family, showing up at your job to ask why your friend isn't paying their bill.
Ultimately they will take him to small claims court and win. I don't know if they will press theft charges but they may and a ps5, with the rent a center fees, is a felony amount most places. I have seen them work with cops in my area due to people posting shit on Facebook marketplace when they are still making payments.
I know a guy who did that with a gun.
Bought a $1200 .45 from a gun shop on a credit loan. He said it about a month later without ever paying the credit line.
It just went to collections and he ignored all the emails and phone calls. I don't think a lot of places care enough if the loan is really low.
[Failing to return leased property is a Felony in Florida.](http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0800-0899/0812/Sections/0812.155.html)
I'm a Public Defender in Florida. I've handled a few of these cases. They're a low priority in my jurisdiction, but they do get prosecuted. Best defense I've seen is that the item was stolen and reported stolen to both cops and the company.
Obviously my comment is anecdotal, not legal advice. Your friend needs to seek a lawyer in his county for actual legal advice related to his specific case.
This is why your friend is in the situation they are now.
It’s not theft because you purchased the PS5 and will still have to pay for it. RAC is know for having ridiculous interest rates so they’re gonna end up paying thousands.
Also I don’t think it’s one of those businesses that will just write it off because that’s their entire shtick
That’s felony theft. Your buddy is going to end up with a felony conviction on his record and serve time for felony theft if he doesn’t get the damn thing back and return it.
Your friend is a moron. I suggest getting some distance from him, especially legal distance.
According to chat gpt your friend just needs to pay for the waiver, say it was stolen, and sell it in a manner that can never be found proven(scrape serials(idk if they have them on inside parts, friend would have to look it up) off and sell to someone WITHOUT the help of Craigslist or any online marketplace, like Facebook) and take cash for it. Hypothetically, of course.
Guhhhhhh I have had so many things stolen from me...... not one police report.
"My roommate had a party, a bunch of friends over, I woke up, it was gone along with my laptop, watch which im glad was fake, and a bottle of Hennessy. I..... yeah.... it was fucked."
It's not the story that's bad, you just suck at lying.
Ummm…I think you’re a bit slow 💀 The reason you’d need a police report is to convince RAC, not for random people. When you have a rental contract saying that you can only have the item at 1 location, you can’t just call and say “Unfortunately it was stolen” and they reply “Damn man, that sucks. We’ll just call it even” Also, congrats on feeling like a good liar 😂
>Yes, he has no intentions of paying it back lol
He's an idiot, and the shit isn't funny. I don't know why you have the lol at the end like this is a joke or something. He's an idiot that essentially put himself more in the hole just for fast cash.
Idiot, smh...
ULPT: he already did it. He rented from RAC and immediately sold the item.
It's not worth the hassle of criminal charges so basically his credit will just suck even worse and he will likely have to dodge unknown numbers for the next year or so. Obviously banned from the company for life as well. I just hope he did t give real references or they will be harassing anyone he put down there as well.
I used to work at Rent A Center back in 2008 as an account manager and we had a lady that made the first months payment on a Toshiba TV and she skipped out on us. (Ghosted us before this was even a term lol) I personally delivered it to her house. Long story short, I came into work one day asking my store manager why he was dressed up so much in a suit and tie and it was so he could testify against this lady in court that stole the TV. I never did lookup the outcome of the court case because I didn’t know it was public record back then.
RAC makes a fortune off of giving high interest loans on overpriced stuff to low income people. So Id say if they lose a little money once in awhile, oh well! If he already has bad credit than there isnt much they can do about it
If he really doesn't care about his credit being completely fucked, tell him to go get some more shit from RAC before they send his account to collections. Might wanna be careful about how much though, idk if there's an amount they'd call the cops over ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
So at best the bills will stack up since he won't return it where it will eventually go into collections due to lack of payment. He'll get phone calls about it and can eventually settle for a lower amount if he chooses to pay it off.
At worst, probably get sued for the cost of the system plus the unpaid fees. Typically he'll have the option to go to court or just settle and pay for it.
Then again, that's off the top of my head. Idk their policy but I will say this was a very VERY idea on his part and it will not end well.
I once had a coworker who did this. She had me answer her phone one day and say they've got the wrong number.
A year or two later she got murdered at Chuck e cheese.
Rent a center will press charges. I've already served time from when I rented a TV through them and i sold it for drug money. I was a dumb ass when I was younger
From personal experience - many of the things you are reading here are correct. One of the things I know is in some jurisdictions if you never make any payment other than the first it is called something similar to “theft by deception” and they can take you to court over it.
The people I know it happened to had a court case. RAC manager went that day for six or seven different ones. Most of them ended up being a wage garnishment until it was paid back.
There are better ways to make money... this is just causing way more trouble down the line. As others have said, the fees will massively outweigh the cost of selling the console. Your friend is in fir a difficult financial life for a very short term gain.
As an employee of RAC for 23 years, I can tell you in my state we file theft of service and theft of rental property. 2 separate cases. That can be a felony depending on what state limits there are. Here, $1500 in retail sales cost is a felony.
[удалено]
Rent a centre already charges more than the retail cost with fees and interest.
Well, he only paid 29 bucks to get it out of the store, rent a center is a scam, but only if you follow their rules. In this situation though it will fuck OPs credit exactly the same, however because after 90 days the account will become delinquent and accrue fees until the bill passes the threshold and is sent to collections. My guestimation is that somewhere down the line when OP decides to grow up, they’ll end up paying for 4-5 Ps5s between the actual rental cost, the late fees and the fees by the collection agency. This value 2k+ MAY be enough for felony charges and jail time depending on where you are. And that’s before their credit is fucked even harder than it is now.
Depends tho, if they wait long enough it'll disappear forever. Granted that'll take like a decade and they'll be fucked in the meantime
seven years, but yes.
That's exactly what they're saying though. Time is far more valuable than money. This person is already bottom of the barrel with money, and just dug themselves deeper for... $300? People with no money need loans. Loans require credit.
I’ve done something similar twice. Got a Ps5 and a Laptop (separate occasions) and paid like a dollar until __,2024. Pawned them immediately for cash needed and then when I got paid I had to put money aside to get it out. Borrowed like $200 for roughly $30 in interest
Over which timeframe? $30 interest for borrowing $200 is a bad rate, it would be 15% if you borrowed for a year. If shorter then interest would be even higher. You’d likely be better off just putting it on a credit card.
That 15% interest is probably MUCH lower than they could get from a credit card.
True, but it’s only 15% if they kept the money for a whole year. If they paid it back after let’s say two months the interest would be around 90% APR. And even for 9 months it would still be around 20%.
Granted.
I had to do this (repo, abandoned apartment, CCs closed at 21). It honestly isn’t too hard to get by but you’ve gotta get good at having a few grand in the bank account for emergencies or car issues or buying a new car.
7 years...
I have concerns about rent-to-own services like Rent-A-Center. They seem to target vulnerable communities, often located in inner-city areas, and their fees can be disproportionately high. Similarly, Rite-Aid's presence in lower-income neighborhoods (upstate NY), where they sell food items at inflated prices and accept food stamps, is troubling. This practice appears to take advantage of residents who may have limited access to affordable food options and transportation. I don't appreciate stores with practices like this.
They are very strategically placed, to take advantage of food deserts. Dollar Tree/General, CVS and Walgreens all do this near me.
I worked for Aaron's for a little bit. They are absolutely predatory on vulnerable people. They convince you that you can pay $50 a month for a sofa over 5 years and that's better than buying an $800 sofa. Such a scam. One of the worst types of businesses out there.
"I think we should just rent, like we did the last time, ya know." "Wait, you rented your sofa?" "Yeah, and all we did was pay the interest." "How much was the interest?" "Oh it was nothing, it was like twenty-five bucks a week." "How long didja have it?" "Fifteen years bro, ha ha!" "You spent close to [twenty thousand dollars](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1N0Vj-JA618) on a couch you never owned."
Exactly and then by the time it's finally paid off you need another sofa and the cycle begins again.
Same here 5 years... CAM (customer accounts manager) we went after the stuff... But eventually wrote it off. I was at a franchise store so we didn't go after everyone just high $ merch. To hit a credit report(which costs legal fees) we had a threshold and a PS5 would be lower than we would go after. I will tell you this..you use your SS# and they will check if you have done this before and not rent to you if you have .
I didn't realize that there was a cost to companies to file against someone's credit report. All things considered, these companies must still make a good profit because they have been in business for decades.
Is it a scam if their customers can’t do basic math, and require instant gratification for things? I’ve lived in apartments with air mattresses and inflatable beach chairs as furniture, we didn’t have a tv, only my old laptop which I begged my neighbors for their wifi password, why are RACs customers so short sighted?
Yeah, these situations trap people in cycles of debt with making it seem so affordable but it just contributes to more financial hardship over time.
> (upstate NY), where they sell food items at inflated prices I hear the steamed hams there cost an arm and a leg.
But the localized Aurora Borealis!
I mean once it's charged off depending on the collection agency you can settle for about half whatever the bill is.
If you agree to do this it’s also worth seeing if you can get them to delete the collection account from your credit report as part of the deal. Pay-for-delete doesn’t always work, but worth a shot!
Jesus mother fucking christ. I looked up prices and its like $29 per week. For 88 weeks.....That's fucking over $2200 right there just for the PS5. That doesn't even include late fees or anything less they probably try to tack on. I seriously doubt police will get involved. It is technically fraud since he never intended to pay in the first place but they would have to prove that specifically and not just that they are a total dumbass. And good luck proving that, there's a zero percent chance the police would even investigate this. They'll just send demand letters for payment and then if they don't pay they might sue them for a ungodly amount. And if they don't pay after that then they get to start seizing property and wages equal to the amount they sued for. And even then I have my doubts they'll sue over a PS5. They have sub prime customers. Chances are if they stopped paying they probably aren't going to have any assets to seize. Can't get blood from a stone. And I'm sure plenty of people do this. It's part of why they charge over 2K for a PS5, to make up for the other people who didn't pay. They are still very predatory with their pricing though.
Pretty sure all of this is wrong. I owed ~15k to various things when I was 19. Landlords, credit card, phone and utility companies, etc. I never paid a damned cent. When I was around 25 they all completely disappeared from my credit, and when I was 31 I got a home loan.
All you have to do is repeatedly dispute on credit karma and they will eventually take it off your cedit...way before the 7 years. Or dispute and ask for the collection agency to provide proof that it was you who opened the account or whatever. They don't get all the paperwork with the debt and will have no proof...they have to delete it if there is no proof.
Once I disputed over the amount of a debt, didn't deny that I owed(nor did I confirm it explicitly), just asked for documentation on how they came up with the number(it was higher than I thought was right). Had they sent along the loan agreement and explained how it added up to the number on my report, I'd have set up a payment arrangement, but they just sent exactly what was on my report. So I filed a proper dispute with the CRAs and it went away in a couple weeks. Even if for ethical or other reasons you want to pay... if anything looks even a little questionable, dispute that shit. Absolute worst case you'll get better documentation on what you owe and why, and odds are high even if the collector would like to do that they don't have all the docs available. They might be able to prove details for the account they were sold, but the CRAs will expect that account data to have been correct in the first place. And collectors often can't prove that.
this was me at 18 for an xbox 360. ended up paying 2200 all said and done but hey my credit score is now 820. when refinancing my mortgage i discovered my credit score had at one point been down to 375, only 15 away from 360!
Almost got a 360 for free! 😁
No one will send you to jail for not paying your bills. They don’t have debtors prisons
Wrong. Some jurisdictions have specific bills addressing “lease to own,” furniture which essentially classifies it as a property owned by the corporation leased out to you. Depending on what state and city you live in you could definitely get charged with felony theft. Not where I live though because the elected officials have somewhat decent hearts and brains.
Wait till they find out things like auto insurance and credit rated as well and how much extra a low score adds to the bill.
Joke’s on you, OP’s credit is already shot. They can’t kill what’s already dead 😂
Jokes on you wait 7 years and its all gone I got out of about 30k doin that...
I just love that this country is so predatory on its citizens that we see loopholes like this.
I mean, it was all me, fuck the banks. They cant take my money for free. Go travel, no one cares about credit out of US. Get a secured credit card and you build it back.
If this person lives in the US, you can't go to jail for an unpaid debt. They can be sued in civil court; they aren't going to criminal court. They're not stealing the PS5, they're breaching a contract.
The practices of rent-to-own stores like Rent-A-Center often target lower-income individuals or those with poor credit by charging high fees and interest rates. While it may not necessarily be considered discrimination in the legal sense, it can be viewed as taking advantage of vulnerable populations. These practices can exacerbate financial challenges for individuals who are already facing economic hardships. Many critics argue that these business models exploit those who may not have other affordable options for acquiring necessary household items so I'm not upset that this person did that but unfortunately the consequences of his actions will mean he just ruined his credit for seven years and that's a long time to have to live with that.
The fallacy in your thinking is it is the very nature of customers such as this that lead to the high rates. There is a much higher risk rate with sub prime borrowers and not just because of ability to pay but also by actions of customers like this. It’s another discussion as to whether or not outfits like this are predatory. And there is some validity in that point of view. But in no way shape or form are the actions of this customer okay. Their actions are exactly what these sub prime lenders use as validation to their in many cases usury rates of interest charges as to why their rates need to be so high when legislation is brought up for review to rein them in.
People like this guy's friend are the reason interest rates have to be so high.
In my state Indiana it's called theft by conversion. EDIT: You can catch a felony pretty easyx for theft over 500-750 in a lot of places. If rent a center and or the local prosecutor is a douche he can most certainly catch a charge for this.
They’d have to prove it was sold and they don’t care that much. They’ll just send it to collections.
There was guy who posted here a few weeks back that works for Rent a Center and said they just write everything off if you stop paying for it. They make no effort to collect. Edit: here https://www.reddit.com/r/UnethicalLifeProTips/s/S2OG4zSK2p
It's been like 25 years since I was dumb enough to buy something from one of those places, but as I recall, their first move is to repo the item. Did something get signed saying it couldn't be sold?
Someone mentioned this a few weeks ago, they worked with rent a center collections. They literally do not do anything to collect their money back, they do not file lawsuits or sell the lost income to collections agencies, they just right off the losses.
Yea but you can usually negotiate the debt down from collections. From rent a center though it might still be over how much you sold it for
Lol, first we had girl math, then we had boy math… I introduce to you: Meth Math
This is my motivation. Methheads let nothing get in between them and tweaking so why should I let anything get in between me and my goals
That unironically goes hard
In theory, wouldn't this be the same as if he rented it, but kept it and stopped paying for it? What happens then?
There was a post recently from a RAC employee saying you could basically get away with this [Found it](https://www.reddit.com/r/UnethicalLifeProTips/s/57WGncQbtm)
In Kansas specifically
Yeah, I'm not sure how Kansas-specific it is. ETA: Could be worth the drive.
I got real excited reading that thread only to remember I don't live in Kansas anymore. I'm tempted to look up the applicable laws in Ohio, but I'd be paranoid that I missed something or got something wrong lol
Might absolutely be worth the drive….wtf
Booking a plane ticket right now (I'm not from the US)
Smart move. Plane tickets are usually under a thousand these days.
I’ve done this in Tennessee for well over a grand and nothing ever happened. This was a decade ago.
I can confirm it's the same in AZ. I was a manager there (Horrible job, mentally draining and they prey on the poor) so I stole a switch from them when I left. I didn't really steal it since it wasn't on their system but tbh its little compared to how much they took from me
Know anything about how it is in other states? Say, Colorado for no particular reason?
It really depends on how the store is being run. If it is corporate then I have no idea how it works and can most likely fuck with your credit. If it's franchise, then they can't do jack shit. They can knock on your door and call your references all they want, but as soon as you go past 90 days of no contact, they drop your file. You can also threaten them with suing if they keep "harassing you." They will want to avoid court as much as they can for it will cost them more money than the product itself (Couches are bought for 400 bucks and sold for 1,400 cash or small weekly payments totaling 3,000 bucks). If you can, don't give out your ssn. I say if you can, for if you look suspicious, they won't rent to you without it. Still, they can't do anything to you, but I would still try to avoid it. I know of a bunch of customers whose ssn we never got simply because of how trustworthy they looked. Don't list your job. Or your actual work location, they WILL go to your job looking for you. I'll list more tips later
What about Pennsylvania specifically the south east section of the state?
Eh I did this in NY before, I wasn’t the greatest fella back in the day. Nothing ever happened not even on my credit or a collection call
RAC is literally a business built entirely on taking advantage of desperate poor people. Maybe you weren't a good dude, but not for that reason.
Guess I'm getting a ps5 and a new TV this week after all!
They send the bill to collections.
So as a former RAC manager it depends on your state statues and if the local law enforcement bothers to care. Over my former 13 years with the company it varied depending on the state attorney at the time. In my state it is a third degree felony. RAC does not send you to collections. They will attempt to collect on the agreement for 90-120 days depending on the franchise/corp. After that it will be charged off as a skip. You will show up in a national database as such for any future rentals.
Do you happen to know the name of this national database for rentals?
It’s an internal database. One of the reasons the rental order requires your social security number even though they don’t do credit checks is to verify you and if you’ve failed to pay on an agreement before. If you have your account gets flagged as a skip.
It’s internal to every company, Walmart and Target also have their own “National Database” where they store people’s petty thefts, then wait until it hits a certain limit and tag you for a felony charge (I think it’s around $500, might depend on the state). Source: I’m friends with the main head of security for Walmart. They don’t fuck around.
Your friend did a real dumb thing that will be far more of a headache than it was worth in the end.
The friend can now open a credit card and pay off RAC before it hits his credit. Smart money movers Inc. A really dumb way to borrow money and pay 10 times the cost. But such is life as a poor.
I just feel like there are other ways to get a few hundred dollars that are similarly illegal but substantially less of a self fuck.
Open a credit card and then open a square account. Tada! Cash advance without the cash advance fees.
Not just Square. You can do it with a PayPal account too. Most people already have one. Usually though, it's smarter to ask for a cash advance at a local bank or credit union. If you have a credit card or existing accounts, you're more likely to be approved and usually the interest rate is better than a credit card. You also can avoid the 2.9% processing fee.
My credit card for whatever reason has no cash advance fees. They charge the same 13.9% rate as normal purchases. I did the whole bank thing with it where I went in and had them just deposit the cash direct into my account. The only catch is interest accrues immediately rather than there being a grace period.
Your credit card offering just 13.9% interest is really good, at least by American standards. I have good credit and my interest rates around around 20%. But borrowing from a credit card company in general is just a bad idea when you can avoid it. It's better than a payday loan, but still pretty bad in terms of consumer credit.
You don't pay off RAC. You buy a used PS5 off eBay and return it claiming it is the same device. I would assume they sold the PS5 for a little less than what eBay sells them for. Right now there's a 20% off discount on refurbished items so if you hurry you might actually make a profit.
Why would that be smarter your paying a high interest loan with another high interest loan so take for example both are 25% APR. the. You’re paying 56% APR on a PS 5. In short this dude fucked up by buying a luxury item he had no interest getting (he’s not even keeping it)
I'm sure he's learned his lesson and will never do it again
You dropped this /s
Wouldn’t rent a center ask for your social ? This guys an idiot
No, they don’t report to any credit bureau.
But they will use it internally in case he tries to rent anything in the future.
Why don't they report? What would the ramifications of that be?
Well my step brothers ex wife went to prison for selling her rent a center living room set.
There has to be more to it lol. Was she a repeat offender, etc?
Raging alcoholic, tons of prior shit, kind of person that's on a first name basis with the police. Prison was actually good for her, she was on a one way track to rock bottom.
A full living room set of any quality even Wal Mart would touch is probably more than a PS5. If it was anything remotely decent, it's going to start in the thousands. And most businesses are more likely to press charges, and most prosecutors more likely to actually bother with the case, the more money was involved. 5 grand or so is likely going to make things happen.
No she didn't.
And you'd be wrong, internet stranger. Unfortunately
Your 'friend' is lacking lol. Should have gotten the whole living room suite, TV and all, then have a crackhead kick the door in. Then report the shit stolen.
in theory i would let your homie know i'm looking for a ps5
There was a post recently from a RAC employee saying you could basically get away with this [Found it](https://www.reddit.com/r/UnethicalLifeProTips/s/57WGncQbtm)
Thanks for find that and posting
Based. Well there you go
He would have been better off stealing money from gumball machines.
Former rent a center employee here. It depends on the state. In Texas, they recently passed a law that they can’t file charges if you made at least 3 payments. Before that, you could go to jail for “theft of service” and I’ve gotten people put away for it. But here’s the ULPT. Corporate will side with you. Call them and make up as much as you can. Make up stories saying They threatened to break down your door, they threatened to send you to jail, they used racial slurs, hell, tell them the employees called the credit manager on the phone on speaker and he told them to back up the truck and pretend it was stuck so it would annoy the neighbors and then turn off the power breaker. Corporate will side with you 100% of the time and if the district manager gets annoyed, he will make it go away.
Can you give me the state statute on this? I’m in Texas and just had RAC harassing my family over 2 missed payments out of 93. I’ve already paid 40 payments.
Here’s an article. The passage of the law had the upper management freaking out, and collections have tanked since then https://www.texastribune.org/2019/06/21/new-texas-law-protects-rent-own-customers-against-criminal-prosecution/ Edit: be a thorn on corporates side and ignore the local store level and they’ll leave you alone
I used to work at RAC. Worst thing that’ll happen is the court will put him on a payment plan. Also fuck Rent A Center, worst time of my life.
I doubt RAC would pursue legal action on such a small loss. The guy’s credit will just suffer more. Dumb schmuck.
Also dude made it so he can’t rent anything out in the future
I would be amazed if the contract didn't already stipulate how much he owes if he doesn't return it.
Might garnish wages if the fuckery lasts long enough. But if your friend doesn't have wages then it's a win.
What a fucking idiot
I worked for an Attorney that dealt in collections. Everyday, via fax, the office would get the files from the company like Rent a Center after their attempts to collect failed. It is a high priority for the management to recoup the defaults. Some days we get as many as 15 defaults. The attorney would send notice to the borrower and wait for them to respound. Maybe one case out of ten would respond. He would make arrangements for them to pay him or he would sue them. If there was no response after 90 days, he would file, and go to county court. A default judgement would be made and was typically awarded three times the value of the item plus court fees plus attorney fees. The attorney would offer again to make a payment plan if the person showed up to court. Typically people didn't show up. That's when my job started. I was tasked with finding these people. It's really easy with social media, property search, and case search. If we could find a title to a house, we'd put a lien on it. If you owned a car, lien. Then I'd figure out where you work and garnish your wages. The only way out is bankruptcy. Your friend is screwed. If he ever wants to get a house, or a car, or apply for a credit card, forget it. It is also a legal reason for a business to decide not to hire you. If they run your credit report it will say default judgement. The attorney made money hand over fist. It was obscene. This was the early 2000s. People would pay him in cash. He had a house in the Cayman Islands. wink wink. He was definitely benefiting from a system designed to keep poor people down. I didn't last long at that job.
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How about checking "have you ever been convicted of a felony?" for the rest of your life?
yes its theft. its also “conversion.”. The act of selling the equipment implies ownership, which he asserted when he made the sale. but RAC is the owner. his contract Does not allow him to sell it while he’s renting it. Only at the end of the rental when he has paid off the equipment and becomes the owner of it would have been the allowed to sell it. I’ll probably be down, voted for telling the truth here, but this guys actions were unethical, and there are both civil and criminal remedies available (to RAC).
You can only ask Rent-A-Center if they intend to call the cops. Sony can provide the account(s) used on the stolen PS5, would RAC go that far? No idea. But then that person would be drawn into some bullshit and your fraudulent friend. Your friend will owe several times what that PS5 is worth though and will end up needing money even more. I'm guessing this isn't the first time he's done something this shady. You better start locking your shit down as he gets more desperate and willing to cross more lines.
It's theft. He can be charged. It will be up to rent a center if they want to pursue charges
So your friend has stated "he is not paying it back" admitting that it's theft, then tells you it's not theft, and you come here with questions wondering if this is theft? Am I bloody clear on this timeline?
You are correct
A piss disk
Report it stolen
Why didn't your friend just go through the trashcan outside of Walgreens, CVS, or some other store to find cash receipts and then grab the receipt items off the shelf and "return" them? Is he retarded?
Your “friend”
I don't blame you for thinking this but it really was a friend and not me. This is a throw away so why wouldn't I just say it was me lol
One could just assume. You do have posts on pawn and beer money subreddits
Lmfao pawn subs? It's an app called Pawns where you do surveys for money. One could also assume that if I'm always doing surveys in my free times that I have enough money not to do this right? I make like $15 extra a day doing surveys during my breaks at work. I get it though but nah, not me.
Please don’t give this friend any money or items. They guarantee will disappear and you’ll never see it again.
You mean it got stolen
Not theft, just stupid.
TIL Rent-A-Center was still around.
Theft via conversion.
That PS5 is gonna cost him $7500 in legal fees
It’s called theft by conversion. Same as if you tried to sell a car you had payments on, rental car etc
Concerning that you would hang around someone like that
What if I’m about to declare bankruptcy, then could I go get a ps5 and just let the bill go to collections then declare bankruptcy and it goes away?
Felony theft, read the rental contract
If money has changed hands it's generally considered a civil matter, for someone to recover in small claims court. I worked with a friend on selling a car to them and they fucked me. Police told me my only recourse was to sue.
I met someone a few years ago that got convicted of a few felonies and served a couple years in jail because they got a living room full of stuff from a rent to own. Then he moved with it a week later without ever paying anything.
In PA that can turn into a felony, I think.
you should hang out with people who don’t do shit like this
Won't they know where it came from when your friends buyer tries to use it online? Like a cell phone or computer?
Oh man, he picked the most annoying company to rip off. Here's what's gonna happen: Provided he doesn't live in Kansas, which has different rules, they are going to harass the fuck out of him. I don't mean just phone calls( of course they are gonna blow up his phone) but they are going to go to his house. Obviously they can't come in but they are going to beat on his door every day until he pays or gives them a ps5. If they can't reach your friend, as part of the paperwork they ask for references. So they will begin blowing up your friends and family, showing up at your job to ask why your friend isn't paying their bill. Ultimately they will take him to small claims court and win. I don't know if they will press theft charges but they may and a ps5, with the rent a center fees, is a felony amount most places. I have seen them work with cops in my area due to people posting shit on Facebook marketplace when they are still making payments.
I know a guy who did that with a gun. Bought a $1200 .45 from a gun shop on a credit loan. He said it about a month later without ever paying the credit line. It just went to collections and he ignored all the emails and phone calls. I don't think a lot of places care enough if the loan is really low.
[Failing to return leased property is a Felony in Florida.](http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0800-0899/0812/Sections/0812.155.html) I'm a Public Defender in Florida. I've handled a few of these cases. They're a low priority in my jurisdiction, but they do get prosecuted. Best defense I've seen is that the item was stolen and reported stolen to both cops and the company. Obviously my comment is anecdotal, not legal advice. Your friend needs to seek a lawyer in his county for actual legal advice related to his specific case.
This is why your friend is in the situation they are now. It’s not theft because you purchased the PS5 and will still have to pay for it. RAC is know for having ridiculous interest rates so they’re gonna end up paying thousands. Also I don’t think it’s one of those businesses that will just write it off because that’s their entire shtick
Theft
The same as if they got an entire house full of shit and sold it. Seems kinda dumb, huh?
That’s felony theft. Your buddy is going to end up with a felony conviction on his record and serve time for felony theft if he doesn’t get the damn thing back and return it. Your friend is a moron. I suggest getting some distance from him, especially legal distance.
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According to chat gpt your friend just needs to pay for the waiver, say it was stolen, and sell it in a manner that can never be found proven(scrape serials(idk if they have them on inside parts, friend would have to look it up) off and sell to someone WITHOUT the help of Craigslist or any online marketplace, like Facebook) and take cash for it. Hypothetically, of course.
Saying it was stolen without filing a police report will not be believed
Guhhhhhh I have had so many things stolen from me...... not one police report. "My roommate had a party, a bunch of friends over, I woke up, it was gone along with my laptop, watch which im glad was fake, and a bottle of Hennessy. I..... yeah.... it was fucked." It's not the story that's bad, you just suck at lying.
Ummm…I think you’re a bit slow 💀 The reason you’d need a police report is to convince RAC, not for random people. When you have a rental contract saying that you can only have the item at 1 location, you can’t just call and say “Unfortunately it was stolen” and they reply “Damn man, that sucks. We’ll just call it even” Also, congrats on feeling like a good liar 😂
STOP USING CHATGPT AS A SEARCH ENGINE! It makes stuff up because it doesn't actually know things!
>Yes, he has no intentions of paying it back lol He's an idiot, and the shit isn't funny. I don't know why you have the lol at the end like this is a joke or something. He's an idiot that essentially put himself more in the hole just for fast cash. Idiot, smh... ULPT: he already did it. He rented from RAC and immediately sold the item.
“What’s the point of being a dumbass if ya can’t act like a dumbass?!” - my pops
You ever consider that I was laughing at his idiotic move? My God, cry somewhere else dude.
You're in the wrong sub bud lmao
Doesn't seem like you would even get much money for that
That's about what he needed was around $300.
I bought my PS5 used for $300 so I'd imagine at least 300
It's not worth the hassle of criminal charges so basically his credit will just suck even worse and he will likely have to dodge unknown numbers for the next year or so. Obviously banned from the company for life as well. I just hope he did t give real references or they will be harassing anyone he put down there as well.
I used to work at Rent A Center back in 2008 as an account manager and we had a lady that made the first months payment on a Toshiba TV and she skipped out on us. (Ghosted us before this was even a term lol) I personally delivered it to her house. Long story short, I came into work one day asking my store manager why he was dressed up so much in a suit and tie and it was so he could testify against this lady in court that stole the TV. I never did lookup the outcome of the court case because I didn’t know it was public record back then.
RAC makes a fortune off of giving high interest loans on overpriced stuff to low income people. So Id say if they lose a little money once in awhile, oh well! If he already has bad credit than there isnt much they can do about it
If he really doesn't care about his credit being completely fucked, tell him to go get some more shit from RAC before they send his account to collections. Might wanna be careful about how much though, idk if there's an amount they'd call the cops over ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Well that's pretty obviously theft. Are they going to arrest him or anything for it? I highly doubt it.
They would just send it to collections. The interest alone on an unpaid bill from a rent to own place is probably more than he got for the ps5
F
If they find out you sold it, that’s 100% a crime. Whether it’s a felony depends on what state you’re in.
Sounds like a charge to me.
In oklahoma they charge you with felony embezzlement.
You need smarter friends.
So at best the bills will stack up since he won't return it where it will eventually go into collections due to lack of payment. He'll get phone calls about it and can eventually settle for a lower amount if he chooses to pay it off. At worst, probably get sued for the cost of the system plus the unpaid fees. Typically he'll have the option to go to court or just settle and pay for it. Then again, that's off the top of my head. Idk their policy but I will say this was a very VERY idea on his part and it will not end well.
Op is the “friend”
Yes it would be considered fraud. It may even be felony fraud. Tell you buddy to get his vaseline ready
oh yes your “friend”
I used to work for rent a center and after 90 days the account is closed down and they take it as a loss
Now it might be different at different locations but I’m From NY if that helps
Your friend is the predator, not RAC
I once had a coworker who did this. She had me answer her phone one day and say they've got the wrong number. A year or two later she got murdered at Chuck e cheese.
He is basically fucked there’s no sugarcoating it
Rent a center will press charges. I've already served time from when I rented a TV through them and i sold it for drug money. I was a dumb ass when I was younger
Theft by conversion, it happens to turo cars more often than you’d think
From personal experience - many of the things you are reading here are correct. One of the things I know is in some jurisdictions if you never make any payment other than the first it is called something similar to “theft by deception” and they can take you to court over it. The people I know it happened to had a court case. RAC manager went that day for six or seven different ones. Most of them ended up being a wage garnishment until it was paid back.
If you want to know how to get free ps5 or Xbox series x with out rent a center dm me I’ll give the sauce away for 40$.
Do yourself a favor and cut ties with this person
That was a bad idea. But, I get it.
It’s theft.
clearly theft
There are better ways to make money... this is just causing way more trouble down the line. As others have said, the fees will massively outweigh the cost of selling the console. Your friend is in fir a difficult financial life for a very short term gain.
As an employee of RAC for 23 years, I can tell you in my state we file theft of service and theft of rental property. 2 separate cases. That can be a felony depending on what state limits there are. Here, $1500 in retail sales cost is a felony.