Yuku free message boards

Sears: Jobless? Keep the Fridge

Sears said it will let customers who lose their jobs suspend payments and keep appliances bought with store credit cards, as long as they spend at least $399 on appliances and related merchandise between July 6 and August 1.

"We thought this would be a way to get folks to jump in where they'd been a little reluctant," Doug Moore, Sears home appliance president, told Bloomberg.

The offer applies to people who lose their jobs between 60 days and one year after making their purchases. The company said it may extend the time for the offer.

Purchasers who qualify will have one-twelfth of the purchase price credited to their account each month they are out of work, and those who remain jobless for more than a year will have the full debt forgiven.

Sears, the largest appliance seller in the U.S., gained market share the past four quarters after seven consecutive years of declines.

However, a drop in purchases of appliances and other home goods in the three months ended May 2 drove an 11.7 percent decline in sales at stores open at least a year.

The number of initial jobless claims in the week ending June 20 rose to 627,000, the highest level since mid-May, The Wall Street Journal reported.

© 2009 Newsmax.