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Page 49

2.

LEGAL HINTS FOR
- HOUSEWIVES

Continued

articles for her home on a plan whereby pay-
ments are less of a hardship than they would be
if required to be made’in a lump sum.

The greatest dangers of installment buying are:

(1) That the housewife may overbuy, that is, she
may buy more, or more expensive things than
she would if buying for cash, and—

(2) That she may pay more than a fair price for
such articles, being misled by the easy terms
_ offered.

Reputable merchants sell a tremendous amount
of goods on this installment plan, but they do not
charge more than the regular price. Neither do
they charge anything more than a fair rate of
interest for the unpaid installments, viz. 7 or 8
per cent per annum. If one is intending to buy

- furniture or some household article on the in-

stallment plan. it is well to ascertain first the

cash: price of such article, and, secondly, the in-

stallment price of such article, with all interest
calculated until the last payment is made. If the
difference between the two prices represents more
than 7 or 8 per cent on the purchase price for
the time that the merchant must wait for the in-
stallments, it would then be foolish to buy on the
instalment plan. If only a reasonable amount of
interest is being charged and the housewife de-
cides that the articles are necessary and fair in
price, she should then try to calculate the possi-
bility of being able to make the payments which
she must agree to make promptly and regularly.

The making of payments called for by the
installment agreement is very important, because
every such agreement provides that failure to
make any payment gives the seller the right to
seize the article sold, and to forfeit the amount
already put in. Merchants are usually quite leni-
ent about such matters and will allow a consider-
able latitude to purchasers. Occasionally, how-

ever, one will exercise his remedies at once, and
there is nothing that the purchaser can do to
protect himself except make payment, and if pay-
ment cannot be made, then the article and money
paid in will be lost.

Another point that must be remembered by
the purchaser on the installment plan is that these
goods remain the property of the seller until they
are completely paid for. ‘The purchaser has no
right to sell these goods without the consent of
the seller, nor even to remove them from the
place in which they were originally kept. As a
matter of fact, a great number of these contracts
state that the removal of the goods before they

are fully paid for without the consent of the ~
seller amounts to default under the agreement, and ©

the seller has the right to seize the goods.

When payment is completed for any goods
bought on the installment plan, a receipt in full
should be obtained as well as a release of the
installment purchase agreement. This release
should be filed in the nearest County Court Regis-
try in order to complete the ‘purchaser's title to
the goods.

Landlords must remember that goods purchased
by their tenants on the installment plan can only
be seized for overdue rent, if the landlord, or the
person to whom he sells the goods, is pepared to
assume and complete the payment of the balance
of the puchase price still owing.

Any installment agreement should be care-
fully read over by the purchaser before signing,
and it must be remembered that every sentence
in that agreement means exactly what it says, and
further, that no verbal representation or promise
made by the merchant or by his agent before the
signing of the agreement will, in any way, affect
the agreement or make the merchant liable after
it has been signed by the buyer..

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