There are quite a few of us bloggers who regularly blog about budgeting and finances. One thing that unites most of us is our dislike (to use a mild term) of going into debt for most anything. Now, sometimes carrying debt may be acceptable for certain types of expenditures, particularly where monthly money is available to pay the debt but the whole amount needed is not there in one lump sum. Certainly buying a house is one such item. And for some people financing a car may work out.
But just now I got an advertisement sent me by Yeshiva World Sponsors which has me totally floored. It is from the Milano Collection Wigs. The offer is for pre-cut wigs with no charge for the pre-cutting. And there is a stylist on premises to give a final touch up to the wig, also free. The add tells the reader "Save money! Eliminate the additional cost of cut/style." So what has me so bent out of shape? The balloon in the lower right hand corner which says: "Financing Available." Yup, you, too, can go into debt to finance a sheitel. But hey, don't think of all the interest you will be paying for that financing--think of the cut/style charge you won't be paying. Financing a wig--is this what we have come down to?
10 comments:
And if you miss payments or default are they going to repossess an already worn sheitel? This has got to be a really bad idea.
I've been planning a post on sheitel financing for a while as a note in a larger post. Well you beat me to it. I will have to link.
Not surprised.
I just don't get how it's allowed halachically, unless there's no interest. Which brings up other Q's...
ProfK:
Its hardly surprising - if one's income derives from sheitel sales, but the recession means that no-one is buying, then a financed purchase jsut might encourage sales.
Is it really much different from paying by credit card? Plus, of course, its unlikely to be 're-possessed' !!!
Shabbat shalom
Anon613-London
I just don't get the going into debt for a shaitel. It's not like the halacha says that it has to be a shaitel used to cover your hair. And re Anonymous 613's comment about those who are selling shaitels needing to find a way to encourage sales, you could apply the same logic to other items. Are dress stores the next ones who are going to offer financing?
Recently I have begun thinking that if I didn't work in a corporate environment I would be happy with snoods and tichels every day. It's rare that I want to put on a shaitel on a non-work day. I wear the shaitels on Shabbos since I already have them, and I haven't expanded my collection of other headwear since at the moment it seems pointless. Unfortunately, even in the business casual world a hat, scarf or snood would just not make it.
The more expensive "custom" shaitels (most of which are not really custom made) do last longer, look better, and need less maintenance than the out of the box shaitels that were the standard until the last decade, but I'd never go into debt for one.
I don't know about that Tesyaa. I work for a major corporation and there are at least two frum women there who wear hats instead of sheitlach and nobody blinks an eyelash (if anything, some of the other women thought it was a cool style and a way to get out of having to spend hours on their hair). I wouldn't recommend a tichel or snood, but in some corporations (especially of the business casual kind) a stylish hat would be fine.
Why is this any crazier (or any less crazy) than financing a TV, or furniture or any of the many other consumer products I see advertised with financing terms? I wouldn't recommend borrowing for any purchase other than a home or a business or an education, but people do it. To paraphrase G. Santayana: those who do not understand compound interest are doomed to pay it.
A stylish hat would NOT make it in my workplace. Would I be fired? Never. Would I advance in my career the same way I would if I wear the shaitel? Highly unlikely. It's not a chance that's worth taking, since the potential income form career advancement far exceeds the cost of a shaitel or two.
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