Community Chat

[oscargirl]

As a non-easy pay user, I am interested in understanding how people view QVC’s easy pay, and why it is so popular among so many shoppers. Some have indicated that since it is an interest-free loan, it allows you to get a piece of merchandise that you like up front and that you then can pay it off in installments (thus offering a budget plan). Points have also been made that you earn interest on that money in a bank account, so in essence you could come out ahead a little (although with the lousy to non-existent interest rates at banks these days that argument probably isn’t as applicable). This use does make some sense, but for non-essentials (e.g. “wants” versus “needs”), it was drummed into me as a little kid to save and pay for things outright, so I can't change that thinking at my stage in life.

My question primarily arises from various threads where I read statements like ‘if QVC had offered easy pay, I could have bought [BLANK] in another color.’ ‘Or, I wish I could buy it, but since it is not offered on easy pay, I can’t afford it’. Any financial planner that reads these specific threads would say, ‘if you can only afford merchandise at QVC with easy pay, you would be wise to invest in a savings plan and forgo non-essentials for a while.’ [Alas, I wish our government did the same].

Interested in other viewpoints.