 APRO: The Official Voice of the Rent to Own Industry
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 RTO Legislative Activity
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RTO Legislative Activity - APRO Congressional Grassroots Instructions
GRASSROOTS COMMUNICATION OBJECTIVE: To secure your U.S. House of Representative and U.S. Senator’s co-sponsorship of the “Consumer Rental Purchase Agreement Act” (H.R. 1588 and S. 881). Co-sponsorship means the Congress member publicly supports your rent-to-own business. S. 881 has been referred to the U.S. Senate Banking Committee and H.R. 1588 has been referred to the Consumer Credit and Financial Institutions Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee.
IF YOU'RE COMMUNICATING WITH YOUR CONGRESS MEMBER'S STAFF THROUGH E-MAIL, LETTER AND/OR PHONE CALL: Please follow these steps to communicate with your Congress member's office. If you need any assistance, please contact APRO Public Affairs Director Richard May.
Step 1: Identify your 1 U.S. House of Representative member and 2 U.S. Senators and their Washington D.C. phone numbers.
Step 2: Phone each office and ask who the staff member is in charge of the House Financial Services Committee if you're contacting your House of Representative's office. Ask who the staff member is in charge of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee if you're contacting one of your U.S. Senators.
Step 3: Ask to be transferred to the staff member because you want to request your Congress member's support and co-sponsorship of H.R. 1588/S. 881.
Step 4: When talking to the staff member, introduce yourself and make sure you tell them you are a constituent. (VERY IMPORTANT) Explain you are requesting that your member of Congress be a co-sponsor of H.R. 1588/S.881.
Step 5: Tell your personal story as a small business RTO owner and how the passage of the Consumer Rental Purchase Agreement Act will secure your business' future, help grow your business and hire more employees while providing valuable consumer protections. Here is an example of talking points:
- I started my business in (insert year). Since then I have been part of the community serving thousands of satisfied customers who need and enjoy rent-to-own. Our customers either do not have credit or do not want to use credit and that is why they use rent-to-own. With rent-to-own, they can return the product at any time for any reason without penalty.
- The bill defines the rent-to-own transaction as a lease, not a credit sale, so the customer is not legally obligated to make payments if they cannot do so.
-The rent-to-own transaction is not recognized as a lease by the federal government, creating uncertainty for rent-to-own business owners to expand their business and provide jobs.
-The bill is also a consumer protection bill enhancing consumer protections in 33 states. The bill mandates full pricing disclosures. RTO business supports pricing disclosures to avoid confusion and conflict with their customers regarding the transaction.
- Refer to APRO's web pages under "Legislative Activity" at RTOHQ.org for all of the information regarding the bill and its legislative history.
Step 6: Ask again for the member's co-sponsorship and the proper time to follow up with an e-mail or phone call regarding co-sponsorship request.
Step 8: Continue to follow up every two weeks until they give you an answer.
Step 9: When you have their answer, e-mail APRO Public Affairs Director Richard May regarding their position.
IF YOU'RE MEETING PERSONALLY WITH YOUR CONGRESS MEMBER OR STAFF: Please follow these steps to properly schedule, prepare and document your meeting. If you need any assistance, please contact APRO Public Affairs Director Richard May.
Step 1: Identify your 1 U.S. House of Representative member and 2 U.S. Senators and their Washington D.C. phone numbers.
Step 2: Phone the three offices to schedule a meeting using APRO’s “Congressional Meeting Request Instructions.”
Step 3: Submit in writing your meeting request using APRO’s “U.S. Senator Meeting Request” and “U.S. House of Representative Meeting Request.”
Step 4: When each congressional meeting is confirmed, send the meeting information through APRO’s on-line meeting confirmation form.
Step 5: Review APRO’s “Why Rent To Own Legislation.” For further background, you can review APRO’s Website and review the tabs under “Legislative Activity.”
Step 6: Review APRO’s “Five Basic Steps to a Successful Meeting.”
Step 7: Submit your meeting summary on-line and be prepared to follow up with the Congressional office if need be or requested.
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2012 APRO Convention and Trade Show July 24-26, Memphis, TN
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RTOHQ: The Magazine
RTOHQ: The Magazine is the Association of Progressive Rental Organizations' award-winning rent-to-own industry magazine, and it's available here. | |||
 CLICK HERE FOR OUR DIGITAL RTOHQ: THE MAGAZINE
RTOHQ: The Magazine’s upgraded digital format APRO's new, mobile-ready magazine is now available in addition to our print edition. The digital format provides the same informative content as our printed magazine, but also offers tools to make the reading experience more enriching. Access the table of contents page with one click or tap. Get additional information from advertisers by clicking on the links in their ads. The interface is easy to navigate and requires no special app—read our magazine on your computer, digital table or smartphone. Click here to access the digital version of RTOHQ: The Magazine March-April 2012.
A New Rent-to-Own Experience by Neil Ferguson Here’s the lowdown on APRO’s 2012 Convention and Trade Show, July 24-26 in Memphis. The RTO industry’s big event will offer many valuable experiences, including insights on how to turn your stores into “experiences”–the good kind for consumers
Who Is Your Competition? by Bill Keese In order to expand your customer base, you can learn a lot by observing your competitors. But first, you need to figure out just who they are. If you think your only competition is the rent-to-own store down the street, you’re not considering the bigger picture. APRO’s executive director offers a big-picture perspective.
A Review of Online Customer Complaints by Ed Winn III While rent-to-own companies have not cornered the market on negative reviews posted on consumer complaint websites, it’s no surprise that there are cyberspace beefs against RTO. APRO’s general counsel reviews some of them in search of a pattern and he considers appropriate response to online complaints.
Rent-to-Own Families, Part VIII by Kristen Card Our series of family-run rent-to-own businesses continues with profiles of the Homeiers in Kansas and two Texas-based sets of kindred colleagues, the Spangles and the Weisblatts.
Future issues of APRO's magazine will be available in this same new format. Click here to access past issues that are not yet archived in the new interface.
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Association of Progressive Rental Organizations 1504 Robin Hood Trail Austin, Texas 78703 800/204-2776, ext. 103 Fax 512/794-0097 |