An installment dealer will nurse an account to the limit, rather than take back the goods he has sold. Once he has collected the cost of the article, he will accept payments of almost any amount, but it will not do to let the debtor know how lenient he is prepared to be; at least a semblance of enforcing the contract must be kept up.
Fig. 23. Installment Contract Register]
The most familiar branch of the installment business is the sale of house furnishings and pianos. The sale of house furnishings on the installment plan is rapidly increasing, and probably more pianos are sold on this than any other plan. Furniture dealers who formerly sold only for cash or on approved credits, are finding profitable business among the better class of installment buyers.
Installment sales are made on contracts, or leases, which provide that title to the goods shall be held by the seller until all payments have been made, and that the right of possession shall be forfeited by the buyer if he fails to make any payment when due. When the contract is folded, the outside shows a form printed as in Fig. 22. This particular form is used by a musical instrument house.
At the head of the form is shown the contract number, amount, date of contract and collection date, name and address of the buyer, and the name, number, and make of instrument. Below is space for a record of payments, divided as to principal and interest, with the names of the collectors. When a sale is made, a contract is made in duplicate, the original remaining in possession of the seller and the duplicate being given to the purchaser.
Fig. 24. Ledger for Installment Accounts