Rent-A-Center (NASDAQ: RCII) is an American public furniture and electronics rent to own company with 3,535 stores nationwide. The Plano, Texas-based company also owns ColorTyme and Rent-Way.
In 2006, Fortune Magazine listed Rent-A-Center at number 729 on the Fortune 1000 list of the largest U.S. corporations, based on a composite ranking of revenues, profits, assets market value and other measures.
History
Rent-A-Center was founded by W. Frank Barton and Thomas Devlin in Wichita, Kansas, in 1973.
Thorn EMI purchased the company for US$594 million in 1987, creating Thorn Americas.
Thorn sold the company to Renters Choice in 1998 along with 1,409 North American stores. By December 31, 1998, the company had changed its name to Rent-A-Center, Inc. and moved to Plano, Texas.
Rent-A-Center completed its acquisition of competitor Rent Way, Inc. on November 15, 2006, for a price of approximately $600.3 million. Rent-Way was ranked number three in the rent-to-own industry with 782 stores in 34 states at the time of the acquisition. Now, Rent-A-Center owns about 50% of the rent-to-own industry.
Controversy
A number of consumer protection concerns have been raised about the rent-to-own industry, including accusations of predatory lending. While Rent-A-Center asserts that it's a leasing business, consumer advocates believe that rent-to-own transactions should be treated as credit sales, and point out that the price of a product can be two or three times the retail price. Although, some are quick to point out that all prices are shown on the customer contract.
In 2002, Rent-A-Center was sued for sexual bias in the hiring of women. The agreement resulted in a $47 million cash payment by Rent-A-Center and forced Rent-A-Center to offer 10% of future vacancies over the following 15-month period to women who were found to be past victims of discrimination.
In 2006, Rent-A-Center settled for $7 million in restitution and $750,000 in civil penalties for deceptive business practices in California. The State of California claimed RAC, in violation of state law, engaged in unfair competition and illegally misrepresented the price of certain merchandise.
Other names
The Rent-A-Center company converted its Wisconsin stores to Get-It-Now! rent-only outlets due to strict consumer protection laws against rent-to-own businesses. The company has said the changes would prompt it to open 152 rent-to-own stores in Wisconsin within five years.
The six stores in Alberta, Canada are known as Rent-A-Centre .
See also
- Closed-end leasing
References
- ^ "Fortune 1000 2006". Fortune Magazine . http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/full_list/701_800.html . Retrieved 2007-04-05 .
- ^ "The Barton Legacy" . http://webs.wichita.edu/?u=barton&p=bartonlegacy . Retrieved 2007-08-07 .
- ^ Reuters (1987-07-30). "Thorn to Buy Rent-A-Center" . http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE0DD163FF933A05754C0A961948260 . Retrieved 2007-08-07 .
- ^ "Rent-A-Center completes Rent-Way purchase". Dallas Business Journal. 2006-11-15.
- ^ Predatory Rent To Own Stores
- ^ Survey of Rent-to-Own Customers - Executive Summary
- ^ "EEOC Announces $47 Million Agreement in Principle to Settle Claims of Class-Wide Sex Bias Against Rent-A-Center". The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission . http://www.eeoc.gov/press/3-8-02.html . Retrieved 2007-01-04 .
- ^ secure.rentacenter.com/rentwaydemotions.html
- ^ "Rent-A-Center Deceived Thousands of Californians in Marketing Services, Memberships". California Office of the Attorney General. 2006-11-17 . http://caag.state.ca.us/newsalerts/release.php?id=1391&year=2006&month=11 .
- ^ Walters, Steven (2004-03-08). "Doyle defends OK on rent bill". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
- ^ Walters, Steven (2004-03-11). "Assembly rejects rent-to-own legislation". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
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