Sears is now joining groups like GM and Ford in offering debt forgiveness. If you purchase any big ticket items between July 3rd and August 1st, and then lose your job, Sears will help you with payments. One twelfth of the purchase price, along with any warrantee and service charges, will be paid for by Sears each month. If you can’t find a job for an entire year, which is completely probable in this economy, then Sears will simply write off the purchase.
After the “test run” through August, Sears will decide if they want to extend the debt forgiveness program or not. From a marketing standpoint, it’s a wonderful idea. I mean, according to Kevin Brown, vice president and chief marketing officer for home appliances at Sears, consumers are simply afraid to make big purchases.
Brown told Dow Jones that Sears’ customers have the money and the jobs now, but they are afraid of what the future may hold financially for them due to the recession and the lack of job security. It’s understandable, considering we are closing in on a national unemployment rate of 10 percent, and finding a job is harder than ever.
The program comes as Sears has seen a falloff in large appliance sales that contributed to an 11.7% decline in same-store sales for its most recently reported quarter.
“We hope there would be appeal in us serving as an innovator with this type of program,” Brown said.
Unlike the big auto companies, Sears is allowing their customers to keep the purchased item. General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Hyandai Motor Co have similar debt forgiveness programs, but the purchased car has to be returned. Sears is claiming it’s the first program of its kind to allow debt forgiveness while letting customers keep the purchased product.
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