World of Washers

From the Associated Press:

"HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. (AP) — Sears said Tuesday that it plans to offer a buyer protection program for its home appliances to help consumers who lose their jobs during the recession.

"The free program, which starts Monday and runs through Aug. 1, covers appliance purchases of more than $399 made on a Sears card by cardholders who lose their job. Cardholders must have held a full-time job for at least 60 days when the appliance was purchased.

"If a customer loses his or her job, the program will credit 1/12th of the purchase price to the account for each month the cardholder is out of work. If the person is still out of work one year after the purchase, he or she will receive an account credit for what's left of the purchase amount and get to keep the appliance without any further payment obligations."

I'm not too sure that I have much of an opinion on this. My first thought was that almost every credit card now offers such a plan for an additional monthly fee, usually around $.94 for every $100 on the balance or so. But plans like that will usually only make the minimum monthly payment, which of course will not pay off the balance within a year.

I am pretty anti-Sears on this blog, but I have to give them credit where credit is due. Of course, this is pretty indicative of just how bad things are right now. I am interested to see if the others (Lowes, Home Depot, et al.) will follow suit.