Rent-to-own cap a win for people paying over the odds

The FCA’s announcement it will cap the cost of rent-to-own goods from 1 April 2019 will help the hundreds of thousands of people who use the high-interest agreements, Citizens Advice says.

The charity helps approximately 5,000 people a year with rent-to-own issues. It has also welcomed the decision by the regulator to place restrictions on other charges, including late payment fees.

Last year, research from Citizens Advice found that people who were at the time signed up to a rent-to-own agreement could save £62 million over the payment period on 245,000 products if a cap was enforced.