The Layaway Plan: The Answer for Many Holiday Shoppers

Some years back, layaway plans used to be very popular. I used layaway plans to purchase my holiday gifts many times. Gradually layaway plans sort of faded away for some reason or the other. Now, I'm happy to say that some of the major retailers are reimplementing layaway plans. They couldn't be doing it at a better time, either. With the tough economic times that we're facing right now, layaway plans will be a blessing to many holiday shoppers. If anyone out there is not familiar with what a layaway plan is, I will try to explain the simple steps involved in setting up a layaway plan.

1. Service fee: A small fee, usually $5.00 to $10.00 is needed to set up the contract for your layaway plan with the store.

2. Down payment: Most stores require you to make a payment of about 10% of your total purchase to hold the merchandise for you.

3. A set number of payments for a number of weeks: Usually your contract will require you to make about 4 payments for an 8-week contract.

4. Pick up your merchandise: When you've made your last payment, the merchandise is ready for you to pick up. If you fail to abide by the terms of your contract a cancellation fee may be charged and your merchandise will be returned to the store shelves.

Kmart, Pamida, Marshalls, Sears, Burlington Coat Factory and Toys R US are some of the stores that have layaway plans. Check in your immediate area to see if there are other stores that will allow you the convenience of doing your holiday shopping using a layaway plan.

The layaway plan may be especially helpful if you're considering major purchases like televisions or computers for holiday gift giving. Instead of having to possibly obtain a loan to make these purchases, you can pay for them using a simple payment plan right with the store.

One downside to the convenience of the layaway plan is you may have the tendency to overspend. We may think that as long as we don't have to pay for something all at one time, maybe we should add a few other things to our shopping list. So be aware that whatever goes into that shopping cart, eventually will have to be paid for, even if it isn't right at the moment.

Overall, I think the layaway plan will be a big plus this year for not only holiday shoppers, but retailers as well.

Source: Kmart layaway plan
personal opinion & experience