Dear Editor,
The hallmark which accompanies the operation of every business should be friendliness and fairness to its customers. And taking advantage of them is neither fair nor friendly. Courts/Unicomer Guyana has been operating a hire purchase system which is unfair, and no one, especially the legal branch of the government is doing anything to stop it. What they are doing reminds me of a similar scheme in the United States of America called ‘Rent to Own,’ which the legislators in many States have now disallowed. Why is Guyana permitting it?
Courts/Unicomer set up their unwitting customers on an unreasonably high rate of interest that is tactfully undisclosed in the contract. On enquiry I discovered the rate is 36%, but when compounded over a three-year contract the rate becomes 108% and this is done on the principal sum. The catch is that they permit customers to obtain goods before payment is effected – no money down. This of course is to attract you. But the arrangement of trust locks the customer into an agreement that allows the merchant to charge 108% of the principal amount no matter how much of the debt is paid off. Plainly speaking, if your initial debt is $100,00.00 on day one of the contract, you are yet to pay 108% of $100,00.00 after two years of payments. And this continues for the life duration of the debt. Then they have the customer pay for the warranty and insurance to cover damage caused by fire, flood, civil unrest and the fading of upholstery. Mind you, unless the customer is intellectually dense they should be aware that nothing lasts forever. What Courts is doing is making sure that if they are forced to repossess and discover that any of the aforementioned damage has occurred, they will not in actuality lose anything if the articles are covered by insurance. They also involve a payment protection plan which to my mind is the same as insurance. Why are the customers burdened with so many money schemes within their payment plans? Courts allowing credit does not mean they are doing you a favour. What actually occurs is that taking credit is giving them access to your pockets for three years. Small wonder that many customers in desperation abscond after paying the actual price tagged to the item, and not getting close to owning it. Just maybe, the same act in law that brought relief on interest to mortgagees, could be given to hirers.
Yours faithfully,
Jorge Bowenforbes
Editor’s note
We sent a copy of this letter to Courts for any comment they might wish to make and received no response.