Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2024
Publication
Boston College Law Review
Volume
65
Abbreviation
B.C. L. Rev.
First Page
763
Abstract
This Article examines how fintech has transformed the traditional rent-to-own (RTO) industry by enabling the rise of virtual rent-to-own agreements (“VirTOs”), which now extend high-cost RTO-style financing into services and unconventional products such as vehicle repairs, pet ownership, and medical devices. It explains how VirTOs differ from classic RTO arrangements by involving hidden online transactions between retailers and third‑party VirTO providers, making termination through return of the item—central to the legal status of RTOs—practically impossible. As a result, the Article argues that VirTOs function as disguised credit rather than true rentals, forming a legal fiction designed to evade consumer protection laws, and contends that courts should regulate them as credit subject to state usury and federal consumer‑finance statutes. The Article concludes by proposing policy reforms, including banning VirTOs for services and nonsensical products, to protect low‑income and subprime consumers from the heightened risks posed by fintech‑driven fringe financing models.