Author Topic: Amazon.com + monthly payments= Fingerhut.com  (Read 4696 times)

Renegade23

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Amazon.com + monthly payments= Fingerhut.com
« on: October 24, 2016, 08:05:45 AM »
I've always hated Rent A Center and now that business model has come to the internet (To be fair its probably been here for awhile).

I saw a commercial for fingerhut.com yesterday and looked it up and its the classic "buy stuff you can't afford and make monthly payments shtick". I assumed there would be some crazy predatory type interest rate and was rather surprised that the APR they charge is "only" about 25%, or about what a bad credit card would charge. So I was somewhat stumped as to how they were ripping people off (because of course they are). Then I figured it out, for the same product Fingerhut charges about 30-50% more than Amazon. (Dyson Animal vacuum is $822.99 on Fingerhut and $500 on Amazon).

So you get to pay more for your stuff you don't need and then you get to pay interest on them. Oh but don't worry Fingerhut has a liberal deferral policy that allows you to defer payments for a few months while interest accrues on your principal!

https://www.fingerhut.com/

Shor

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Re: Amazon.com + monthly payments= Fingerhut.com
« Reply #1 on: October 24, 2016, 04:47:51 PM »
Yeah, that's some pretty crazy margins there..
« Last Edit: November 09, 2016, 04:59:23 PM by Shor »

Papa Mustache

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Re: Amazon.com + monthly payments= Fingerhut.com
« Reply #2 on: November 11, 2016, 08:14:31 AM »
Still don't understand how people do that to other people and still sleep at night.

MgoSam

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Re: Amazon.com + monthly payments= Fingerhut.com
« Reply #3 on: November 11, 2016, 08:51:05 AM »
^ I respectively disagree. I think it is an insane interest rate, but it is a marketplace. If someone can't afford something that they want, then this they are providing them a service in order to get it. I completely hate that this is out there.

slugline

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Re: Amazon.com + monthly payments= Fingerhut.com
« Reply #4 on: November 11, 2016, 11:00:39 AM »
Fingerhut has been at their game way longer than Amazon.com has been around. Lemme tell you about these things we used to call "mail-order catalogs". . . .

Papa Mustache

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Re: Amazon.com + monthly payments= Fingerhut.com
« Reply #5 on: November 14, 2016, 11:21:58 AM »
Yeah - free markets, etc. Still I've known some people with no backbone and.or education to buy some stuff at huge prices/interest rates that they could not afford - and the ripple effects that caused in other areas of their lives.

I guess in my perfect imaginary world we wouldn't see crazy prices or interest rates thus indirectly protecting those people.

It only the finance education made a bigger impression than the advertisements for high interest debt.

GetItRight

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Re: Amazon.com + monthly payments= Fingerhut.com
« Reply #6 on: November 17, 2016, 06:50:26 PM »
There must be a market for it. Seems like it would be cheaper to buy from Amazon on a CC and pay it off over a few months, even if it's a high interest rate card. People that want or need whatever item immediately choose to pay more for it, that's their choice.

KodeBlue

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Re: Amazon.com + monthly payments= Fingerhut.com
« Reply #7 on: November 18, 2016, 03:57:40 AM »
Fingerhut has been at their game way longer than Amazon.com has been around. Lemme tell you about these things we used to call "mail-order catalogs". . . .
Yep, the old Fingerhut catalogs. That brings back memories.

Renegade23

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Re: Amazon.com + monthly payments= Fingerhut.com
« Reply #8 on: November 18, 2016, 09:18:27 AM »
There must be a market for it. Seems like it would be cheaper to buy from Amazon on a CC and pay it off over a few months, even if it's a high interest rate card. People that want or need whatever item immediately choose to pay more for it, that's their choice.

I have to assume that people who shop at fingerhut.com either do not have or can not get a credit card. I can't fathom not qualifying for a low credit limit high interest card, but apparently its a thing.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!