Hire purchase: Higher prices Problem debt in the rent to own market Hamse Yusuf Joe Lane Contents Summary 2 Introduction 4 Methodology 5 The Rent to Own Market 6 How many people have rent to own debt problems? 10 Why do people have unmanageable rent to own debts? 13 Recommendations 19 Appendix 22 1 Summary Since the introduction of a price cap on payday lending in January 2015, the number of people with payday loan debt problems has halved. In response to that success, the government and regulators need to be vigilant that those problems don’t simply shift elsewhere. One market where we are now seeing growing numbers of similar problems is the rent to own market with consumers getting trapped in debt due to high interest rates, inadequate affordability checks and inflexible collection practices. The rent to own market Rent to own companies sell household items such as televisions, fridge-freezers and washing machines through hire purchase agreements. The agreements typically require consumers to make weekly instalments, last for three years and have an interest rate of up to 99.9%. The industry is dominated by three companies, Brighthouse, Buy as You View, and Perfect Home. Since 2008, the number of households using rent to own shops has increased rapidly and best estimates put the total number of consumers last year at 400,000. Rent to own shops are popular because they offer a service to people who can’t afford to pay for products up front; 71% of rent to own consumers told us they use them because they can’t afford to buy products up front. How many people have unmanageable rent to own debts? The growth of the market means that more people are getting into financial difficulties. Last year, Citizens Advice helped people with over 11,500 hire purchase issues and in the first three months of this year, we have advised on 20% more hire purchase debt issues than in the same period last year.1 The people we have helped with hire purchase debts, which include rent to own debts, reflect the problems rent to own consumers have more generally. Our survey of nearly 2,000 rent to own consumers found: ● A third have missed one or more payment ● A quarter has struggled with payments for two or more weeks ● More than half have taken on other debts to make their payments; 28% have borrowed from a doorstep lender, 24% have used a credit card and 20% have taken out a payday loan ● A quarter have not been able to pay other bills such as their rent, council tax, or television licence after falling behind on their weekly rent to own payments Rent to own debt problems are particularly concerning because they cause severe detriment. In particular, the debts tend to be large. In 2014/15, the average rent to 1 Hire purchase issues are a broader category than rent to own shops and includes vehicle hire purchase debts. Where the data refers to the broader category it will refer to ‘hire purchase’, the majority of evidence relates explicitly to rent to own consumers. 2 own debt client we helped had a debt of £1,309, compared to £532 for payday loan clients.2 What causes rent to own debt problems There are four primary reasons many rent to own consumers struggle to pay their rent to own debts: ● Rent to own shops are expensive. Due to a combination of inflated prices, add-on charges and interest rates of nearly 100%, rent to own consumers regularly pay two or three times more than consumers who can pay up front. ● Affordability checks are inadequate. A fifth of rent to own clients spend more than 20% of their income on rent to own purchases. ● Consumers experience poor treatment when they do fall into arrears. Seven per cent have their goods repossessed - even when they have already paid a significant sum for their products. ● The cost of buying from rent to own shops is unclear. Add-on charges and inflated prices make it difficult for consumers to compare prices across providers and calculate how much they are paying for the product itself. What can be done? To help people avoid taking on unmanageable rent to own debts this report makes a number of recommendations to government, regulators and rent to own lenders: ● The FCA should investigate extending the total price cap on high-cost short-term credit to the rent to own market. ● Brighthouse should follow the example of the rest of the market and make their aftercare service optional. Alternatively, the CMA should investigate whether bundling the prices increases overall prices by limiting competition. ● Consumers should be given a 14 day cooling off period after purchase to enable them to shop around for aftercare and insurance. ● The FCA’s affordability guidance should be applied as rules to rent to own lenders, as well as high-cost short-term credit lenders. ● Rent to own companies should introduce a formal spending cap so that no client spends more than 20% of their income on rent to own agreements. 2 Based on data collected by advisers 2014/2015 3 Introduction Since the introduction of a price cap on payday lending in January 2015, meaning that people can’t pay back more than twice what they borrowed, there has been a 53% reduction in clients accessing help from Citizens Advice with payday loan issues.3 In response to that success, regulators and the government need to be vigilant that those problems don’t simply shift elsewhere. This report focusses on the rent-to-own market and is the latest in a series of reports looking at the problems consumers have in markets that are similar to payday lending. The rent to own market has grown in recent years, particularly in the wake of the payday loan price cap. That growth has attracted justified attention from the All Party Parliamentary Group on Debt and Finance (APPG), the Financial Inclusion Centre and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).4 The FCA has recently expressed concerns about price transparency, affordability checks and the treatment of consumers in arrears.5 It has appointed ‘skilled persons’ at the three largest rent to own providers to oversee improvements in their practices. We look in detail at those issues, as well as the reasons why rent to own consumers pay such high prices. The report begins by describing the rent to own market, examining the size of the market and its growth and describing who uses rent to own stores and why. The second section highlights the number of people who struggle with rent to own debts. The third section looks at the reasons so many rent to own consumers take on unmanageable debt. Finally, it makes ten recommendations to improve the market and provide better protection for consumers. 3Citizens Advice. (2016). Debt problems with high cost credit products on rise as payday loan issues fall. Retrieved from https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/how-citizens-advice-works/media/press-releases/debt-problems-with-hig h-cost-credit-products-on-the-rise/ 4All Party Parliamentary Group on Debt and Finance. (2015). APPG on Debt & Personal Finance – Report from the inquiry ​ into the Rent to Own sector. London: All Party Parliamentary Group on Debt and Finance, Pages 3-7 ​ ​ 5Financial Conduct Authority. (2016). Rent to own. London, https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/rent-own ​ ​ 4 Methodology The report uses a combination of Citizens Advice data and primary research: ● A survey of 1,936 rent to own consumers who had purchased a product from either Brighthouse, Perfect Home or Buy as You View on their experiences with rent to own companies. The survey ran from 16 August to 22 September 2016 and was promoted on the Citizens Advice website and social media pages and externally by MoneySavingExpert and directly to Brighthouse consumers through a marketing SMS. ● Analysis of our statistics from the local Citizens Advice network relating to rent to own products in the last 3 financial years including data from local Citizens Advice services that used our electronic case recording system for complex debt casework ● Analysis of anonymised evidence forms submitted by local offices which contained a reference to the rent to own market and/or one or more of Brighthouse, Perfect Home, Buy as You View, or hire purchase between the 1 July 2014 - 1 November 2016. Any reference to hire purchase on a car was excluded from the analysis which left a total of 153 qualitative cases eligible for analysis ● Secondary market analysis of the rent to own sector ● Analysis of the Wealth and Assets Survey 5 Part 1 - The Rent to Own market What is a Rent to Own Agreement? Rent to own shops sell products through hire purchase agreements.6 Hire purchase agreements are a form of credit where a consumer borrows money to buy a particular product, typically household furniture, appliances, or electrical goods. The consumer then pays regular instalments to hire the item. The consumer takes ownership of the product when they pay the final instalment at the end of the hire period.7 The rent to own market in the UK is dominated by three companies; Brighthouse, Perfect Home and Buy as You View. Based on analysis of the agreements they offer, a common rent to own agreement: ● Is paid in weekly instalments ● Lasts for 3 years, although there are agreements which last between 1 - 4 years ● Has an annual percentage rate (APR) of between 68.9% and 99.9% ● Often includes aftercare, which is similar to a warranty, either as an option or, in the case of Brighthouse, as a mandatory add-on8 ● Requires insurance which can be bought from the rent to own company or elsewhere Our survey of rent to own consumers provides more information on how people use rent to own shops: ● The majority of consumers pay between £5 and £25 a week, although nearly a fifth (17%) pay over £50 a week ● The 3 most popular items bought are televisions, fridge-freezers and washing machines ● 84% of consumers pay for more than one item with 28% paying for 5 or more ● More than two-thirds (69%) buy their insurance in store ● Where given an option, 3 in 4 consumers bought aftercare9 Figure 1 highlights the typical costs of a rent to own agreement at each of the three major providers.