Layaway is a shopping payment plan by which you can start paying for an item to receive it when you have finished paying for it. It can take weeks or months to complete payment for a layaway item. It is the opposite of the credit card payment plan, where a consumer receives an item before paying for it.
Home Depot does not currently have layaway programs. But they offer zip financing. With zip financing, you can pay for products and pay later—up to three months later. Home Depot also offers coupons and discount codes which you can use to unlock discounts on their website.
Why Does Home Depot Not Have Layaway?
Home Depot disabled their layaway plans for several reasons. The failure of customers to honor their part of the bargain is one. You see, layaways work well for the stores when customers do right by the agreement. The layaway plan had become a source of financial stress to stores like Home depot. Consumers were stalling on completing their payment to claim their items and allow the stores restock.
Another reason is that stores were reserving items for customers that had tied them down while real-time buyers were looking to buy the items. This caused the stores to keep their goods for a longer time than was necessary. They lost sales in the process, especially if the customer refuses to complete the layaway deal.
What Are the Alternatives to Layaway at Home Depot?
In place of layaway plans, Home Depot has a couple of other payment plans for their customers including:
- Home Depot Credit Card
Home Depot created the consumer credit card to favour those customers that shop at their location often. With this card, consumers stand a chance to receive up to six months’ financing when they make minimum purchases of $299. Once they pay the outstanding balance within 6-months, the consumer does not have to pay interests.
Where Can I Get Layaway Plans?
Plenty of other retail outlets offer layaway payment plans to consumers.
If you don’t want to use the alternative methods offered by Home Depot, these retail outlets allow their customers to enjoy Layaway plans.
What Are the Advantages of a Layaway Program for the Consumer?
- Not having to pay the full purchase amount will enable you to attend to other urgent issues of financial concern.
- There is no payment of interest at completion of the plan.
- There is no checking of your credit history.
What are the disadvantages of a layaway program for the consumer?
Once you agree to a layaway program, you don’t decide when to pay. You pay as the layaway plan specifies.
- Although you wouldn’t pay interest, there are typically other forms of payments—service fees, restocking fees and cancellation fees.
- If you decide to cancel the plan, you would get a refund of, at least, the program fees.
Hallmark
Hallmark’s Gold Crown stores offer layaway programs every year from July to December. Hallmark’s layaway program is available only in-store and not online. Once you find an item you would like to put on layaway, you can approach the store attendant and if all is good, you’ll need to pay 20% of the total amount. A written copy of the rules governing the program will be given to you. Usually, you place an item on layaway at Hallmark for 90 days.
Kmart
At Kmart, you can place an item on layaway either in-store or online. Online, you can have it on layaway for as long as eight weeks and in-store for as long as 12 weeks if the purchase amount is up to $300. With Kmart, you can cancel your layaway plan for $10 to $20, depending on the plan you did.
Other retailers offering layaway programs are:
- Burlington and Baby Depot at Burlington.
- Sears.
- Buckle
- J. Maxx and Marshalls
- Sears.
- Walmart (during Christmas)
- Home Shopping Network
- QVC
Conclusion
Layaway programs are a wonderful source of financial help for many consumers, but they have downsides. Home Depot created other payment means for its customers to pay for their purchases. But layaway is not one of them at the moment.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Can I get my money back on layaway?
There are some other fees in layaway programs, such as service, restocking and cancellation fees. You wouldn’t get a refund for the program fee if you get a refund for the others when you cancel.
What Can’t I put on Layaway?
You can put most items on layaway except furniture, food items, lamps, rugs, wall art,
Can I take items off layaway?
Yes, you can take items off your layaway provided that the value of the items remaining on your layaway goes below $50. Else, they will cancel the layaway.
What is the difference between a Layaway and Instalment?
The difference between a layaway and an instalment plan is simple. In a layaway plan, the customer must pay a fraction of the purchase amount upfront, while an instalment plan allows customers to stretch out the payment over a longer period.
