Rent to own explained by the CEO of its trade association: why it is not a loan, who actually uses it, and what the industry owes the people it serves.
Rent to own explained by the person who represents the industry in Washington. Watch Charles Smitherman, CEO of the Association of Professional Rental Organizations, take Stephen Sakach and Mike Liwski through how the lease-purchase model actually works, why it keeps getting confused with credit products it has nothing in common with, and what an industry serving people in tight moments owes them in return.
The clearest way in is the correction Charles has been making since 1980: this is not a loan. There is no borrowed sum, no repayment obligation, and no credit report consequence. A customer renews period by period and can return the item at any point, which is a materially different product from a credit card or a buy-now-pay-later plan, even though it gets grouped with both.
Charles is equally direct about who the customer is. Students, military families mid-relocation, gig workers whose income will not fit a lender's model, and households where a refrigerator died on a Thursday and payday is next week. By his figures the industry reaches one in twenty American families.
Also in this conversation:
• Why APRO was founded to regulate its own industry, starting with a code of ethics
• Why disclosures decide whether a multi-month relationship works or fails
• The generative engine optimization work behind the question “are we known for what we want to be known for?”
• Writing The Rent-to-Own Revolution to preserve the accounts of founders now retiring
• Why Charles treats treating customers well as a sustainability requirement, not a virtue
Listen to the full episode: Rent-to-Own with a Purpose with Charles Smitherman (https://www.theblisspodcast.com/rent-to-own-with-a-purpose-with-charles-smitherman/) Guest profile: Charles Smitherman (https://www.theblisspodcast.com/guests/charles-smitherman/) More from the Featured Guest Series (https://www.theblisspodcast.com/categories/bliss-businesses-series/)