BrightHouse customers will still be paying off some Black Friday ‘deals’ in 2020 – and it could cost TWICE more than other shops
SIGN up for a new widescreen TV in BrightHouse’s Black Friday sale and you could still be paying it off in 2020.
The rent-to-own firm is encouraging shoppers to “sniff out” deals on its website ahead of Black Friday next week.
But its range of TVs, gadgets, household appliances come with an interest rate of up to 99.99 per cent.
Shoppers get between one and three years to pay off the items but they often end up paying hundreds of pounds more than they would if they paid the cheapest high street price.
Guy Anker, manager editor of MoneySavingExpert.com, slammed the rent to own firm for targeting customers on low incomes.
He said: “All it’s doing is encouraging and expensive and potentially unaffordable debt for financially vulnerable people” .
The last Friday of November is known as the day retailers discount products in an attempt to tempt in shoppers.
One of the items included in BrightHouse's “sale” is a Samsung 50inch LED TV.
If you were to buy the item outright then it would cost £588.75 but over three years you would pay a total of £1,170.
The cheapest price The Sun Online could find it for online today was £499.
That means a shopping paying the TV off through weekly payments over three years is paying £671 extra.
We took a look at a handful of items in the BrightHouse Black Friday sale, these included an XBox bundle, as well as a cordless hoover and Acer laptop.
Our calculations reveal that a BrightHouse customer will often pay DOUBLE the price of buying the item outright from a high street retailer.
A spokesperson from BrightHouse said that they were “proud” of the deals.
In a statement they said: “Our Black Friday deals include a new 7kg Beko washing machine installed in our customer’s home for £235.50 plus £66.10 of interest over a year.
“We are proud of this and other offers for our customers who are on lower incomes, have poor credit histories and are financially excluded by mainstream lenders.
“All our products offered over three years have a representative APR of 69.9 per cent.”
Last month, BrightHouse was ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of customers back a total of £14.8million in compensation after the City watchdog found they had been treating them unfairly.
In total, it must pay back 249,000 customers as a result of the investigation by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
They include customers who cancelled orders during the cooling-off period but did not get a refund for payments which were made.
As well as those who could not afford to make payments and returned the products.
Earlier this month, The Sun Online revealed how staff accused the firm of twisting affordability checks to hit bonus-related targets.
Gillian Guy, chief executive of Citizens Advice, said “Rent to own companies are some of the priciest places around to shop.
“In the long run, you can end up paying much more than the original cost of the product because rent to own firms commonly charge interest rates of up to 100 per cent - and some add on extra charges such as insurance, too.”
Mike O’Conner, chief executive of StepChange Debt Charity, said: “Rent-to-own is a ruinously expensive type of credit.
“The interest rate is sky high and you will end up paying a very high price.
“Tempting vouchers or deals as an inducement to take out credit distract from the important things consumers really need to be looking out for.
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