Charities back Fair for You social enterprise

An alternative to rent-to-own retailers launched this week has received backing from Church Action on Poverty. A social enterprise, Fair for You, hopes to challenge controversial companies like BrightHouse, Perfect Home and Buy As You View.

The company’s priority is to reduce the cost of credit for low income households. It plans to give low income families credit to buy household goods at an annual interest rate of 42.6%. Its mission is to challenge high cost lending by being ethical, giving greater control to borrowers, and being fair.

A recent price comparison carried out by Church Action on Poverty showed that the total cost of credit, calculated on the basis of paying a fixed £8.50 per week, was dramatically lower with Fair for You than BrightHouse. Whereas with BrightHouse a repayment at £8.50 per week would take 156 weeks, and cost £658.74 in credit charges, with Fair for you it would take just 69 weeks, and cost £120.38 in credit charges.

Church Action on Poverty Comments

Niall Cooper, Director of Church Action on poverty said: “This price comparison demonstrates the huge savings consumers can make by purchasing comparable goods from Fair for You rather than BrightHouse. Paying the same weekly amount, consumers can buy their fridge-freezer in 69 weeks with Fair for You – but would have to carry on paying for a further 87 weeks to buy the identical item from BrightHouse.”

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Source: Church Action on Poverty press release (not available online)