Community boycotting local Rent-A-Center

City Council Deputy Majority Leader Leroy Comrie and Councilmember Eric Gioia led southeast Queens residents in a boycott of a local Rent-A-Center on Saturday, December 20.
The protest, which took place at the Rent-A-Center located on Francis Lewis Boulevard, was designed to highlight the outrageously high interest rates and deceptive sales practices the national chain uses, according to the politicians.
“New Yorkers who make purchases from rent-to-own stores like Rent-A-Center are paying 300 percent more than they need to because of loopholes in state law,” said Comrie.
“By targeting and preying on low-income consumers with poor or no credit, Rent-A-Center has become a legal loan shark industry. In this economic climate, it is important that our community not allow anyone to take advantage of people who are desperate. We want everyone to boycott Rent-A-Center.”
Gioia added, “Rent-to-own stores are nothing more than loan sharks by another name. They are profiting off hard-working New Yorkers who do not know the details, and exploiting New Yorkers out of thousands of dollars a year. Predatory lending has no place in our communities. This is not just an immoral business model, it may also be illegal.”
Additionally, Comrie and Gioia urged the state legislation to take up this issue in Albany and to correct current usury laws. They were joined by National Action Network representatives Kirsten Foy and Minister Taharka Robinson, who have led citywide efforts to raise awareness on this issue.
“Rent-A-Center should not be allowed to engage in predatory renting to the community,” said Foy and Robinson. “We are not going to tolerate such horrible business practices to be imposed upon the community. Their business model of exploitation of the most vulnerable and economically disadvantaged among us is one of the reasons why all of our communities are going through great economic crisis.”
Accused by critics of targeting low-income consumers, the rent-to-own industry has 8,300 stores nationwide that serve roughly 2.7 million people and generate $2.35 billion in fees and $6.6 billion in revenues annually. Rent-to-own stores allow consumers to enter into a rental contract on a variety of new and used name-brand appliances, furniture and electronics.
With an approximate 33 percent market share and 2,751 company-owned stores nationwide, in Canada and Puerto Rico, Rent-A-Center is the largest rent-to-own operator in the United States. New York City has 38 Rent-A-Centers.
According to the Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project (NEDAP), Rent-A-Centers in New York City are located in predominantly black or Hispanic neighborhoods, and as an industry, rent-to-own stores have been found to target low-income consumers with poor or no credit history. In fact, across the country there are twice as many rent-to-own stores in low-income neighborhoods than in other neighborhoods, and nearly 60 percent of rent-to-own customers earn less than $25,000 a year, according to NEDAP statistics.
Comrie urged consumers to use the following guidelines if they feel they have no choice but to patronize rent-to-own establishments:
_ Know what you are getting into – rent-to-own stores are allowed by law to double their own cash price for a product, and can repossess it if you miss a payment. _ Make sure you read all the fine print.
_ Do the math – Make sure you budget the weekly cost with all your other expenses. Determine how long it will take you to pay off a rent-to-own contract.
_ Compare rent-to-own prices to prices at other stores, both in your neighborhood and outside your neighborhood.
“We plan to continue to stage boycotts of Rent-A-Centers in southeast Queens periodically,” Comrie stated. “As long as the current laws allow this legal loan sharking to continue, then we will make every effort to educate local consumers and urge them to boycott these businesses.”
Comrie also announced that the New York City Council’s Committees on Consumer Affairs (which he chairs) and Civil Rights (chaired by Councilmember Larry Seabrook) will convene a hearing on this issue next month.