Pinballz Arcade in Austin, TX has 8% financing for 12 or 24 months, with a 20% downpayment; membership (which costs $10) adds discounts of 10% off up to $500 (can be used twice annually). Be forewarned, their tables are in very decent shape, but priced at full retail.

_{Post edited by balbers : grammar}

Yep! We do. Min 20% down Min 20% a Month so 5 Months is normaly what we do.

I believe Trent will do it too.

Just use a credit card if you want to make payments.

Layaway is letting someone else hold your money which is just weird to me.

Many distributors have payment plans with Firestone Financial.

Mountain Coin and Brady Distributing are two of the many coin machine distributors across the USA who use/offer payments with Firestone Financial:

http://www.mountaincoin.com/

Thing about Layaway, is most folks don't charge interest. If they do, it's a lot better than credit.

Believe pinballs.com does it.

Its not credit if money goes out before the game ships.

You can just put money under your bed until reaching the required amount.

You are 100% correct.

I'm the worlds most impulsive person. Having a layaway option on certain things has been nice, because I was putting money toward that item, and it was out of my hands, so I couldn't spend it on something else.

I know that sounds crazy, because it is. Just how some people are wired I guess. hehe

Or, when the money is finally gathered, the machine is gone...

Run Forrest run!

If you need a payment plan for a pin, you can't afford it. That kind of credit garbage is what causes a lot of problems.

You said it! Ie: United States housing/economic crash. Not everyone can afford a house either!

A better way to put it is to point out that a pinball machine in the home is a luxury item. No one should ever buy luxury items on credit.

If the original poster's brother can put half down now for a premium, he can probably save a little longer for a pro. Better to start with a pro for your first game anyway. Less parts to maintain/ repair. And MET pro is plenty fun. No one will bag on your brother for not getting a premium.

Yes most distributors will.Go to Stern's website for a long list of their distributors.

A mortgage is not home ownership, it's nothing more than an elaborate rental agreement for the easily mislead.

I worked in lending for years & hate the entire world now that I've learned how it all works.

If the Amish allowed pinball & AC then I'd join em lol.

Lay Away is a big difference from Financing. I dont know any distro who will actually finance anything to a end user.

I feel the same way here. If I can't pay cash for a pin, I can't have it. Although...

I've used lay away for all 3 of my NIB purchases. Automated for my first and Trent for my last 2. I still paid cash and never financed anything. I don't sell my pins, in general, so I can just whip up 4-6K right as a new game is introduced.

pardon my ignorance but what is lay away exactly?

Or your wife finds your stash and spends it on extensions and teeth whitening . . .

I see you are awake . . . sucks doesn't it. Stack in the power to tax your property at the state level and you really never own anything (you just have the right to pay a low rental fee).

PCE, tell your bother to just hold your money until the great pinball price crash of 2013. You should be able to buy a MM for $1500....

There's one in every thread it seems .....

I have used Firestone more than once. There is a $200.00 paperwork fee. Better off using your personal bank for loan. The Game Exchange of Colorado has worked with me on a LOTR L.E. Were I paid it off over a period of months.

You give the seller a deposit. The seller holds onto the product till you pay it all off. That is called Lay Away. Peace !

My old boss at Capitol Amusement used Firestone Financial for every machine we bought brand new. And we bought a lot of new machines.

Ive done layaway on 2 pins so far with JJ(Gex), TRON pro and my HULK, he was great to work with.

I work as an RE appraiser, so I definitely agree on the mortgage not always being the path to ownership but rather long term rental. I've also seen quite a few Amish houses with toys in the barn (cell phones, atv's, escalades, etc.) so you might be ok!

Im doing it for a few of my customers.

That post was made in total sarcasm....I just had to say it because of all the gloom and doomers on here...lol

I bought my TFTC off eBay, used Bill Me Later.
Got the machine I wanted, at the time I wanted, and paid it off in full in six months.
Worked for me.

You might be better off taking a loan against your 401k, that way all the interest you pay is actually back to yourself. Assuming you have a 401k to borrow from.

I would take loan from local bank interest rates are low enough.
I could see people needing loan for pinballs $5k and more and if thats what you enjoy no different then people buying snowmobile or atvs and taking loan its what you what to spend your money on

Firestone will not fiance to the General public. Have to be an Operator. As others have said there is also a $200 filing fee. They also prefer a 10k Min.

We also offer Wells Fargo Financing, but I'm not sure we can do it for non Face to Face Sales. I will look into it.

It's not a matter of being able to afford it or not. The idea of layaway is simply to make payments on something that doesn't require a credit check and good credit or simply having a wad of cash sitting by. The reality is that many people, like myself, have credit cards but try not to use them for things where we will need to make payments on them after we have them. The interest and the temptation to pay minimum payments is unappealing.

Layaway allows you to make payments and when you are paid off, you own it. Done. No interest no more payments. Move on to the next machine in your addiction.

#36 4 years ago

Wow, talk about an awkward pause in the conversation.

You do know this thread is 4 years old and most people that posted are probably in a mental hospital after being on pinside that long.

Thats great if some distributors do. The one I regularly use claim they can, but every time I ask about it, they state they can't do it because the machine is "in demand". yeah right. Well at least I can use all those credit card points for something else.