Rent-A-Center
Rent-A-Center (commonly referred to as RAC) is an American public furniture and electronics rent-to-own company based in Plano, Texas. The company was incorporated in 1986 and as of 2014 operates approximately 2,972 company-owned stores in the United States, Puerto Rico and Mexico, accounting for approximately 35% of the rent-to-own market in the United States based on store count. Rent-A-Center's operations include 24 retail installment stores called Get It Now (based in Wisconsin); 17 Home Choice stores in Minnesota; and approximately 1,359 Acceptance Now kiosks housed within retail partner stores throughout the United States. Its subsidiary, Rent-A-Center Franchising International Inc. (RACFI), formerly known as ColorTyme Inc., is America's first franchisor of independently owned-and-operated rent-to-own stores. Its franchisees operate 162 rent-to-own stores in 31 states under the Rent-A-Center and ColorTyme brand names, and the company's wheels-and-tires franchise brand, Rim ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Mark Speese
Mark E. Speese (born 1957) is an American businessman who founded Rent-A-Center and built an empire. Career Speese began his career in the rent-to-own industry in January 1978. He started as an entry level coworker with Rent-A-Center, a brand that has been in existence since 1973. He moved up the career ladder with the company, and after nearly eight years working in the business, he and a colleague left the company to start a competing business known as Vista Rent-To-Own. They opened stores in New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and California. Speese was responsible for choosing store locations, negotiating leases, hiring and training personnel, writing the business model and employee handbook, creating advertising, and getting vendors in place. With Speese as President and COO, Vista Rent-To-Own made its first acquisition of stores in 1993 and officially changed its name to Renter's Choice. The company went public on the NASDAQ market in 1995 under the symbol RCII. In 1998, having grow ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Rent-to-own
Rent-to-own, also known as rental purchase or rent-to-buy, is a type of legally documented transaction under which tangible property, such as furniture, consumer electronics, motor vehicles, home appliances, real property, and engagement rings, is leased in exchange for a weekly or monthly payment, with the option to purchase at some point during the agreement. A rent-to-own transaction differs from a traditional lease, in that the lessee can purchase the leased item at any time during the agreement (in a traditional lease the lessee has no such right), and from a hire purchase/installment plan, in that the lessee can terminate the agreement by simply returning the property (in a hire purchase the buyer has a limited time, if any, to cancel the agreement). The usage of rent-to-own transactions began in the United Kingdom and Europe, and first appeared in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s. While rent-to-own terminology is most commonly associated with consumer goo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Rent-to-own
Rent-to-own, also known as rental purchase or rent-to-buy, is a type of legally documented transaction under which tangible property, such as furniture, consumer electronics, motor vehicles, home appliances, real property, and engagement rings, is leased in exchange for a weekly or monthly payment, with the option to purchase at some point during the agreement. A rent-to-own transaction differs from a traditional lease, in that the lessee can purchase the leased item at any time during the agreement (in a traditional lease the lessee has no such right), and from a hire purchase/installment plan, in that the lessee can terminate the agreement by simply returning the property (in a hire purchase the buyer has a limited time, if any, to cancel the agreement). The usage of rent-to-own transactions began in the United Kingdom and Europe, and first appeared in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s. While rent-to-own terminology is most commonly associated with consumer goo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
ColorTyme
ColorTyme is an American rent-to-own business, currently a wholly owned subsidiary of Rent-A-Center. Litigation In 1994, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled in ''Miller v. ColorTyme'' that the lease agreements offered by ColorTyme were covered under the state's Consumer Credit Sales Act, and that the lease agreements were therefore not leases but sales on credit. The court further held that the company was charging usurious rates of interest to its customers. A similar lawsuit, filed by the office of Wisconsin Attorney General The Attorney General of Wisconsin is a constitutional officer in the executive branch of the government of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Forty-five individuals have held the office of Attorney General since statehood. The incumbent is Josh Kaul ... James E. Doyle in 1993, resulted in the company being fined $25,000 and required to disclose interest rates and other credit terms to consumers. ColorTyme later settled a class action lawsuit brought by the Le ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Plano, Texas
Plano ( ) is a city in Collin County, Texas, Collin County and Denton County, Texas, United States. It had a population of 285,494 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is a principal city of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. History European settlers came to the area near present-day Plano in the early 1840s. Facilities such as a sawmill, a gristmill, and a store soon brought more people to the area. A mail service was established, and after rejecting several names for the nascent town (including naming it in honor of then-President Millard Fillmore), residents suggested the name ''Plano'' (from the Spanish word for "flat") in reference to the local terrain, unvaried and devoid of any trees. The post office accepted the name. In 1872, the completion of the List of Texas railroads, Houston and Central Texas Railway helped Plano grow, and it was incorporated in 1873. By 1874, the population was over 500. In 1881, a fire raged through the business district, destro ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Big Brothers Big Sisters Of America
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to "create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite the power and promise of youth". Adult volunteers are matched with children from age 5 to young adulthood. Big Brothers Big Sisters is one of the oldest and largest youth mentoring organizations in the United States. Big Brothers Big Sisters mentors children, ages 5 through young adulthood in communities across the country. The ages of children and youth served varies by affiliate. Congressional charter The group holds a congressional charter under Title 36 of the United States Code. Impact Public/Private Ventures, an independent Philadelphia-based national research organization, conducted a study from 1994 to 1995, monitoring 950 boys and girls nationwide to study the effects of Big Brothers Big Sisters. CEO Karen J. Mathis reported that the study found favorable outcomes to the organization. Public/Private Venture ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Boys And Girls Clubs Of America
Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) is a national organization of local chapters which provide voluntary after-school programs for young people. The organization, which holds a congressional charter under Title 36 of the United States Code, has its headquarters in Atlanta, with regional offices in Chicago, Dallas, Atlanta, New York City and Los Angeles. BGCA is tax-exempt and partially funded by the federal government. History The first Boys' Club was founded in 1860 in Hartford, Connecticut, by three women, Elizabeth Hamersley and sisters Mary and Alice Goodwin. In 1906, 53 independent Boys' Clubs came together in Boston to form a national organization, the Federated Boys' Clubs. In 1931, the organization renamed itself Boys' Clubs of America, and in 1990, to Boys & Girls Clubs of America. As of 2010, there are over 4,000 autonomous local clubs, which are affiliates of the national organization. In total these clubs serve more than four million boys and girls. Clubs can be f ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Goeasy
goeasy Ltd. is a Canadian alternative financial services company based in Mississauga, Ontario. It operates with three business units – easyfinancial, which offers loans to non-prime borrowers; easyhome, which sells furniture and other durable goods on a lease-to-own basis; and LendCare, a provider of point-of-sale consumer financing. As of March 2021, goeasy's loan portfolio had grown to $1.28 billion in loans, and goeasy had a market value of $2.5 billion as of June 2021. In March 2021, easyfinancial had a $1.28 billion loan book, and 12-month revenues of $655 million.https://investors.goeasy.com/static-files/651fbc90-59db-401c-920f-8012706a36db The company is listed as ''GSY'' on the Toronto Stock Exchange. History goeasy Ltd. was founded in 1990 as RTO Enterprises. It went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 1993, through a reverse takeover. Its original focus was leasing furniture. The company's original focus was offering customers furniture and appliances through a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Hewlett-Packard
The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components, as well as software and related services to consumers, small and medium-sized businesses ( SMBs), and large enterprises, including customers in the government, health, and education sectors. The company was founded in a one-car garage in Palo Alto by Bill Hewlett and David Packard in 1939, and initially produced a line of electronic test and measurement equipment. The HP Garage at 367 Addison Avenue is now designated an official California Historical Landmark, and is marked with a plaque calling it the "Birthplace of 'Silicon Valley'". The company won its first big contract in 1938 to provide test and measurement instruments for Walt Disney's production of the animated film ''Fantasia'', which allowed Hewlett and Packard to formally esta ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Dell
Dell is an American based technology company. It develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. Dell is owned by its parent company, Dell Technologies. Dell sells personal computers (PCs), servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, computer peripherals, HDTVs, cameras, printers, and electronics built by other manufacturers. The company is known for how it manages its supply chain and electronic commerce. This includes Dell selling directly to customers and delivering PCs that the customer wants. Dell was a pure hardware vendor until 2009 when it acquired Perot Systems. Dell then entered the market for IT services. The company has expanded storage and networking systems. It is now expanding from offering computers only to delivering a range of technology for enterprise customers. Dell is a publicly-traded company (), as well as a component of the NASDAQ-100 and S&P 500. It is the 3rd largest personal computer vendor as ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
NASDAQ
The Nasdaq Stock Market () (National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations Stock Market) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the US by volume, and ranked second on the list of stock exchanges by market capitalization of shares traded, behind the New York Stock Exchange. The exchange platform is owned by Nasdaq, Inc., which also owns the Nasdaq Nordic stock market network and several U.S.-based stock and options exchanges. History 1971–2000 "Nasdaq" was initially an acronym for the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations. It was founded in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), now known as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). On February 8, 1971, the Nasdaq stock market began operations as the world's first electronic stock market. At first, it was merely a "quotation system" and did not provide a way to perform electronic trade ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Whirlpool Corporation
The Whirlpool Corporation is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of home appliances, headquartered in Benton Charter Township, Michigan, United States. The Fortune 500 company has annual revenue of approximately $21 billion, 78,000 employees, and more than 70 manufacturing and technology research centers globally. The company markets its namesake flagship brand Whirlpool, alongside other brands as well including Maytag, KitchenAid, JennAir, Amana, Gladiator GarageWorks, Inglis, Estate, Brastemp, Bauknecht, Hotpoint, Ignis, Indesit, and Consul. In its domestic, United States, market Whirlpool has nine manufacturing facilities: Amana, Iowa; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Cleveland, Tennessee; Clyde, Ohio; Findlay, Ohio; Greenville, Ohio; Marion, Ohio; Ottawa, Ohio; and Fall River, Massachusetts. Together, these American manufacturing facilities account for at least 5% of the company's employees. History Founding and first customers On November 11, 1911, Louis Upton (L ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |