Rent to buy

Mike and our friend Scott and I are all fans of the PS3 game Borderlands. Now that the new expansion is out, we're all chomping at the bit to level our characters up. Yeah, I know, major dorkiness. But fasten your seatbelts, people, because I'm about to hit you with an entirely new level of dorkiness- we've decided to do a full-day epic gaming session tomorrow which will involve three TVs and three PS3s being set up in our apartment so that all of us can play together at one time. Did that just blow your mind with mega dorkiness? Because it should have.

The problem: there are only two PS3s among us. So, we needed to find one to borrow or rent. As nobody on Facebook was forthcoming with a loaner (boo to everyone!), we had to rent. The next problem: practically nobody rents game consoles anymore. The only place we could find that did rent them is Rent-a-Center. Mike and I went and picked one up today and as I was looking through the paperwork, I came across something truly astounding. Consider the following...

The cost for a PS3 120GB (what we rented) brand new is roughly $250, depending upon where you go, bundling, etc. The one we rented was already used, so let's say that it's value, if purchased used at a Gamestop or comparable store, is probably around $200, max. Now, let's consider that we wanted to not only rent this PS3, but rent it to buy. Take a wild guess at what the total cost of the PS3 would be if you rented to buy.

Got your guess? Did you guess $1200? Well if you did, then you are correct, give or take a bit depending upon the payment plan selected. If, like me, you never fathomed that the rent to buy cost would be SIX TIMES the max retail value of the item, then you were probably shocked by this.

Isn't that ridiculous? I don't understand why anyone would ever rent to own. Heck, a credit card with monstrous interest would still be cheaper, even if you took two full years to pay off the initial $200.

Thank heavens we're not renting to buy, because that's just plain old highway robbery if you ask me.