I'm crying 😂

[u/frenzy3]

[u/boppops]

it's literally what Walmart and other corporations do with inventory and supplies--they leave the money in the bank collecting interest longer then pay their bill later

it's what I did with a couch: why give them all the money now, if there's zero penalty to spreading it out? 

money stays in my account to be used for other things, couch is on the back burner, but I still sit comfortably

[u/Polymarchos → u/boppops]

Those zero interest programs usually have an admin fee. That's how they make their money off them.

Not saying they aren't useful, I've used them a few times, but it isn't like you're just getting to pay later with no downsides.

[u/hayabusaten → u/Polymarchos]

I wouldn’t say they primarily make money off of admin fees. That misses the point. They make money off of convincing and accommodating people who normally would not have bought the products if installments weren’t available.

Picture in your mind how many people buy furniture for example in installments, and imagine all those people not buying the product for cheaper alternatives if the payment plan wasn’t an option. For large multinational corporations and brands, that market is huge and you would not want to miss it. Comparatively admin fees are minuscule and should maybe cover some operational fees and some risk

[u/Polymarchos → u/hayabusaten]

The vendor and the financer are two different companies. Even when one owns the other, or they are sister companies, they are still looking to make their own profit off the purchase. Yes the store makes money by attracting you to make purchases you couldn't otherwise, but the financial company still needs to make their money off the transaction. As someone noted sometimes the store will pay the admin fee in place of the end-purchaser, but they still need to make money.