Financing guides
Everything worth understanding before you sign a financing or lease-to-own agreement, written in the order the questions actually come up.
Where to start
If you read only one of these, make it total of payments. It is the number that decides what a lease-to-own agreement actually costs you, it is not an APR, and two of the five largest providers in the market do not publish it at all.
All guides
9 guides, written to be used before you sign
No sales copy. These exist because the questions in them come up every day on the phone.
Start here
Lease-to-own vs financing
Which structure costs less, who owns the item, and when the lease is still the right call.
Read the guideCost
Total of payments explained
The most important number on a lease agreement, and the one most people never ask for.
Read the guideCost
Same as cash explained
The 90-day window that is the cheapest exit from a lease, and the deadlines that catch people out.
Read the guideCredit
Soft pull vs hard pull
What each inquiry does to your score, when each happens, and what to do about one you do not recognise.
Read the guideCredit
Credit score requirements
What each tier opens up, and the five things providers weigh alongside the score.
Read the guideCredit
Does lease-to-own build credit?
Which providers report to which bureaus, and how to make sure an agreement counts.
Read the guideHow it works
What is a lender waterfall?
How one application reaches 60+ providers, why it approves more often, and the trade-off.
Read the guideApplying
Documents you need to apply
A checklist for consumers and businesses, plus the missing papers that stall files.
Read the guideReference
Financing glossary
Twenty-five terms that change what you pay, defined in plain language.
Read the guideTools
And three things you can actually run the numbers on
Lease total cost calculator
See the gap between paying a lease to term and settling inside the early window, on your own purchase.
Provider comparison
Snap, Acima, Koalafi, Progressive and Katapult on limits, terms, buyout windows and credit reporting.
Availability by state
Why programs differ from one state to the next, and what applies where you live.
When you are ready
One application, the whole lender network, and a soft credit check that leaves your score alone.