Korst's testimony before the New York General Assembly in October of this year is, in our opinion, the defining example of pro-industry speech.

There will be no shortage opportunities for Rent to Own industry professionals to speak before state and federal legislators in the coming months and years regarding the unique nature, and legitimacy of the Rent to Own transaction.

Based on evidence, there is a general lack of understanding of the RTO transaction by legislators on both sides of the political aisle. The best way to educate legislators is to meet with them face to face. The problem; What to say?

RTO Online believes the best way to learn is by watching an expert. As the nations top Rent to Own Company, Rent A Center is a leader in all major state and federal legislative efforts. Chris Korst, Rent A Center Vice President and General Counsel, has probably met with, and testified in front of, more legislators than any other person in the industry.

In October of this year, Korst testified before the New York General Assembly. The 160 page transcript of the hearing is, in our opinion, the defining example of pro-industry speech. RTO Online offers the transcript here, in its entirety, for training purposes. Note: This is a real-time, word for word  transcription of the testimony supplied by the New York Assembly. Please disregard grammatical errors.

Read the entire transcript, Print the entire transcript or click the shortcuts on the left to jump to specific issues.

MR. KORST: Good afternoon, Madame Chairwoman, Chairman Towns and Assemblywoman Peoples, thank you for the opportunity to, again, testify before this joint committee. My name is Chris Korst and I am Senior Vice President and General Counsel for Rent-A-Center Incorporated, we're based out down in Dallas Texas or the Dallas Texas area, I should say. (top)

I have prepared testimony and submitted that testimony to the committee for your consideration, but rather than go through that, I think it's largely and substantively the same as I testified to a couple of weeks ago when we were in Buffalo together. I would like to take the opportunity and maybe just touch on couple of highlights because those highlights, I think, will address a couple of the issues that have been raised today in regard to the rent-to-own or rental purchase transaction. Then in addition to that, go ahead and specifically address some questions and concerns that were raised and then I’d be glad to answer questions at that point. I will try to be brief. I have an airplane and I would rather catch it than end up staying over one more day. As much as I like New York City, I do need to get home some time. (top)

I think it would be helpful today would be helpful, once again, to remind you all and the committee for the record of what it is that we do in the rent-to-own business. Who our customers are and what our transactions are that so that the issues that you’ve heard raised today or that you may have concerns about can be considered and addressed in a proper legal and factual framework. Rent-to-own companies like Rent-A-Center offer name brand high quality durable goods furniture appliances, electronics and computers are our main product lines, for rent on a week-to-week or month-to-month basis. Customers are typically never obligated beyond the initial term to continue renting and in fact can return the rented product at any time without penalty and without further financial obligation. Our customers also have the option to continue renting after the initial rental or renewal period and can do so simply by paying an additional weekly or monthly rental payment in advance. (top)

They also, as you would guess, from the name of the transaction rent or purchase or rent to own have the option again without the obligation to acquire ownership of those goods. In addition to the property products themselves, we provide delivery and installation of those products in our customers homes as well as full service, including the provision of loaners or replacement items if we can't repair the original items in the customers homes. All of that we provide without additional charge beyond the basic rental charge that we have. And finally, we do not require any down payments or security deposits and we don't do credit checks on our customers as we don't consider their prior credit history in deciding whether or not to rent them. (top)

Industry and independently developed statistics have shown that just 20 to 25 percent of all transactions in our business result in the consumers are acquiring ownership. Slightly less than 70 percent of all of our transactions terminate with the property