You get the choice to pay the remaining value of the phone and keep it, or enter a new "lease" agreement for a brand new phone at the end of the term. The formula is simple:

purchase fee = device list price – lease payments made – remaining discounts or trade-in credits.

If you're paying $1368 over 24 months, you could pay the remaining $632 after those 24 months and keep it with 0% interest.

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artisinal 5 hours ago | parent [-]

So let's say you go to Hertz or Avis at the airport, you get a car for a month at $1700. The car has an MSRP of $40,000 and Hertz/Avis gives you the option to buy the car for $38,300 after you return it.

Is that leasing or renting in your country?

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wpm 5 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Let's say you go to BMW or Lexus or Ford. You pay them $3000 and agree to pay them $500 a month for the next 3 years to use the car according to some conditions. The car is worth $60,000. You pay $21,000 over those three years. When you bring it back, they offer to let you buy it outright or to just hand it over to the dealer.

Is that leasing or renting in your country?

Is the difference between renting and leasing even meaningful? You chose a car rental agency for your example because it costs more per month to rent from a short-term rental agency. What is a lease but a long term loan? What difference does it make that I rent my apartment by signing a document called a "lease agreement"? Am I a renter? Or a leaser?

Renting/leasing is not automatically bad. The terms are what make one a good or a bad deal.

	▲	artisinal 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Is that $3000 a deposit that you get if you return it in good condition? In that case we would definitely call that renting. > Is the difference between renting and leasing even meaningful? Where I live, yes. If you lease you are the owner, with the financing company having the ability to seize it when you don't pay. If you rent you are not the owner, but are allowed to use it. Renting is a bit plebeian.

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5 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

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