Hire purchase

The rates of payment, or the payment or partial payment, is an agreement between seller and buyer on payment of the debt by means of clear advise wise payments or within a specified period. In retail, one also talks of financial purchase. An obsolete term is buying on the installment plan. A rate is composed of the repayment ( rückzuzahlendes capital) and, if agreed, the accruing interest.

Are usual fixed by period payments in constant height ( eg the payment of a certain monthly amount for each no later than the 1st of each month ), see also annuity. Rare is the installment with only temporal specification (eg, payment of the total debt up to a certain date).

In Germany, to be considered formal requirements are found for example in § 492 BGB.

Unmet installments (eg mail order houses ) are one of the most common reasons for bankruptcies of private consumers nowadays.

Pioneered Edward Clark, a payment plan in 1856 to promote the sale of sewing machines.