What should she do?

Good day.

A friend bought a couch on hire purchase but now she’s struggling to pay. She wants to return it but the shop says she still has to pay all the money. What does the law say about this? Kindly advise.

The bad news is that the shop staff are correct. If she returns the couch either voluntarily or if they repossess it, the store will then auction it but they’ll probably only get a fraction of the original purchase price from the sale. They’ll then deduct that money from the balance your friend owes but it’s likely that when they add on the penalties, interest, debt collection fees and all the other costs, she’ll still owe them a lot of money, perhaps even more than she owes already. And the final insult is that despite owing them even more money that she does now, she won’t even have a couch.

Hire purchase really is a terrible way to buy things. It’s horribly expensive, the law offers you hardly any rights you can use to protect yourself and if things go wrong, you can end up in tremendous debt. I’ve always urged anyone who can’t afford to buy something new either to save the money or to buy something second-hand instead.

We should also urge the authorities to consider a comprehensive Credit Act that governs all forms of sale on credit and hire purchase. Consumers have many protections offered by various laws but we need one that protects us against hire purchase going wrong. We’ve been waiting a long time.

Regarding your friend, she should talk to the store as soon as possible and explain her situation. With luck, the store will help her negotiate a repayment plan she can afford.