FlexShopper Allows Customers with Bad Credit to Shop Online for Brand-Name Rent-to-Own Items from Major Retailers

In a Nutshell: Consumers with low, or no, credit have few options for purchasing the furniture, electronics, or other goods they want. Many turn to brick-and-mortar rent-to-own showrooms that have little selection and often feature used goods. In the article below, we’ll take a look at how FlexShopper is revolutionizing the rent-to-own industry with online access to more than 140,000 new brand-name items from retailers like Best Buy, Overstock.com, Amazon, and Walmart. Lease-to-own agreements run for a period of one year with direct-deduction payment options that are available to consumers, even with bad credit.

Over the last 50 years, consumers who couldn’t qualify for financing have turned to rent-to-own businesses to acquire new furniture or other goods they wanted.

What they typically found was a small selection of items — sometimes used — with little variation in stock to choose from. Those businesses thrived as customers with no other options signed leases for lackluster home furnishings and electronics.

The internet has transformed the way almost every industry conducts business, including rent-to-own marketplaces. No longer requiring a brick-and-mortar storefront, companies are going digital to offer more product options with flexible payment terms.

Among the leaders in this charge is FlexShopper. The Boca Raton, Florida, company lets consumers across the US use a pre-approved spending limit to choose from 140,000 different items from top retailers including Best Buy, Overstock.com, Amazon, and Walmart.

In just a few minutes, customers can submit an online or mobile application that uses a proprietary scoring method to issue a spending limit that allows customers to shop online for the goods they want. Once the customer fills their cart, a lease agreement is generated at checkout, and the items are shipped straight to the customer’s doorstep with some items also available immediately for in-store pickup.

“We focus on providing our customers choice, flexibility, a great shopping experience, and most importantly high-quality products from reputable retailers,” said Brad Bernstein, CEO of FlexShopper.

Brad said FlexShopper’s most popular category is consumer electronics, which includes computers, gaming consoles, and televisions. Other categories include everything from furniture for the home and garden to baby and children’s room furniture, and wheels and tires.

“We are revolutionizing the lease-to-own industry by implementing a superior business model,” Brad said. “We provide the best proposition for the lease-to-own consumer; this consumer wants to shop online like everyone else and that’s why flexshopper.com is the largest lease-to-own marketplace today, featuring products from the nation’s largest retailers that drop ship for us.”

FlexShopper’s lease-to-own agreements allow customers to own in 52 weeks with weekly payments automatically deducted from a customer’s checking account. Once a lease agreement is established, customers can contact the company and change their billing to biweekly or monthly. Customers also have the option to purchase the goods earlier.

Brad said that flexibility, along with an ever-growing list of product options, sets his company apart from others.

“Our site offers more choices than all of our competitor’s sites,” he said.

Watch on

The company also offers a Personal Shopper service at no extra charge for customers who are looking for a specific item. The service allows customers to lease an item not found on FlexShopper’s website by sending the URL of the product to the company. In most cases, the item can be added to a customer’s shopping cart and lease agreement.

“We aim to improve our customers’ quality of life by providing them with the opportunity to obtain ownership of high-quality, durable goods,” Brad said.

Applying for an account with FlexShopper does not impact your FICO score as the company does not obtain credit reports from major nationwide reporting agencies.

FICO scores are not used when reviewing applications. Instead, the company uses its dedicated team of data scientists and risk analysts to create a proprietary risk model that is constantly being updated and optimized.

Once a customer is approved for a spending limit up to $2,500, he or she is given access to the entire online selection of goods that FlexShopper offers, including the Personal Shopper service. The spending limit does not determine the types of products a customer can lease. Whether you’re on the hunt for a comfy new mattress, the latest video game console, or a new smartphone, it’s all available once you’re approved.

Consumers with poor credit, or credit profiles that are new or too thin, have for years been relegated to a meager selection of substandard merchandise from rent-to-own chains.

These chains sometimes provide rigid lease agreements with hidden fees that place the cost of owning the everyday goods needed to fill a home much higher than expected.

FlexShopper breaks with the old stereotypes regarding brick-and-mortar rent-to-own showrooms and brings the lease-purchase model into the 21st-century with an online shop filled with more than 140,000 items customers can choose from — many from top retailers like Best Buy, Overstock.com, Amazon, and Walmart.

The company also offers flexible payment options and 52-week lease agreements that feature direct debit payments made weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. Once all payments have been made, the customer owns the item.

FlexShopper plans to continue revolutionizing an industry that has been slow to change.

“We will continue to innovate to meet the needs of our customers and provide them the best service, products, and lease-to-own options,” he said.