Engagement ring financing ....

[Circe]

... is even sketchier than I thought.

http://blog.credit.com/2013/01/the-crazy-world-of-engagement-ring-financing/

And the comments on the BoingBoing post where I found it are fascinating ....

http://boingboing.net/2013/01/24/the-crazy-world-of-engagement.html

 

[sonnyjane]

Indeed!

I watch Suze Orman every week and she has a "Can I Afford It?" segment where people call in, give their financial stats, and ask if they can buy certain items. I'd say every other week, someone calls in to ask if they can afford a certain engagement ring. She is NOT a fan of buying a ring you can't afford. If anyone says they plan to finance it, or if anyone says "My girlfriend wants a (specific size) ring", pretty much if the cost of the ring is in excess of one month's salary, she shuts them down pretty hard. My DH paid for my ring with a bonus from work. Had he not, I would have definitely advised against financing!

 

[woofmama]

My DH & I regulary use zero percent offers for large purchases. I set everything up in automatic bill pay and have each payment go out at least five days before the due date, no chance of getting lost in the mail and I have proof of the date payment went thru my bank. I have never missed a payment on anything and we both have outstanding credit. We never had a circumstance were we paid any interest on these offers, but we are financially sound and have job security. I have no problem using anyone elses money for short term loans if it's interest free. Of course young couples buying way beyond their means and without job security are playing roulette with these types of loans. So many guys visit RT stating that they are looking for a ring with a 1ct to 2ct diamond. I'm really surprised at this, wondering how they pay for it.
FYI-My original ering (16 yrs ago) was paid for in cash. We use these types of offers now for home improvements or furniture.

People really need to do their homework before agreeing to any type of loan. The housing crash proved that in todays society reason goes out the window when people want things that are beyond their means.

There sure is a lot of anti-diamond sentiment in the comments you linked. And a lot of nasty attitudes about women who like and wear diamonds.

 

[distracts]

I personally can't imagine financing anything other than house/car. And heck, even then I personally have not ever financed a car purchase, though my husband does (he buys new whereas I buy used). I think it's fine if you do what WoofMama does, but I am pretty sure WoofMama has the financial ability to where she COULD just wait and pay it all at once, but chooses the financing to spread the expense out a little.

I've seen on wedding boards where people got into the "interest charged from the date of purchase" trap.

There sure is a lot of anti-diamond sentiment in the comments you linked. And a lot of nasty attitudes about women who like and wear diamonds.

What is interesting to me is that there is A LOT of diamond hate on the wedding forums that I'm on... especially hate for big diamonds and, really, any reasonably-sized (1.5+ carat) natural stone. Maybe I'm a big ole meanie but I often think it's just jealousy because they wouldn't be able to afford that, but jfc, calm down.

"Screw rings, I say start a tradition of engagement cheesecakes. I'd love me an engagement cheesecake. And then when it's gone you have to give me another cheesecake because I need a lasting symbol of our love. And then when IT'S gone, etc..."

ngl I could get behind this idea.

 

[TC1987]

Yeah, there's a lot of engagement-ring-hate out there on all of the forums, particularly male forums like truck and car forums, and dating forums like PlentyOfFish. The comments on that article were darned polite, lol.

After 8 years, I realized I wasn't cut for that industry: Way too much b__llsh_t and greed veiled by a thin veneer of 'romance'.

That's a comment from the article the OP linked to, written by a supposed ex-jeweler. Sounds a bit naive to me. Heck, that description applies even more to the entire wedding racket than to just the engagement and wedding ring industry. It's not as if wedding gowns aren't overpriced, or invitations overpriced, or catered meals overpriced the minute anyone mentions "wedding." At least when you buy a e-ring or w-ring, it has a useful service life longer than 3.5 hours, haha.

And "wear just the wedding band daily and save the e-ring for only special dress-up occasions" --- wth! Why do that. Pay all that money for something and it sits in a safe or SD box most of the time??! Wear it for dress-up? Well, I don't know about anyone else, but it's a fact that the dress-up occasions after marriage were a lot more scarce than before marriage, in my experience.

I tend to wonder about the values of a person who parades around with a hand full of glistening rings. I could appreciate jewelry possibly made from an unusual stone which you may have hiked to a mountain top or a desert canyon to discover.

^ Values, like maybe the wearer just appreciates something that is both pretty and portable? This kind of preaching and crap, I love to kick down the road. I could appreciate holier-than-thou people like that one maybe taking a long walk on a short pier. I usually go post up a plethora of the most gorgeous PS rings and BTD rings in response, and point out that many people find such rings attractive and desirable.

There are just a lot of people out there who seem to totally begrudge any woman owning or receiving a nice diamond ring. And she or her mate maybe had enough income to afford it? I think I p_ss off the small-town women here even more because I bought my own diamonds and didn't have to settle for less. I have a .8ct solitaire from a pawn shop that I wear amongst the general public here, because that's a really big diamond for the area but not "too big."

 

[JewelFreak]

Why pay attention to snarky comments? They're just blowing off steam (& maybe envy) & not directing it at any of us personally. So people have other interests, big deal. We have sacrificed many things to pay for DH's vintage cars & he gets a ton of joy from them. Lots of folks think it's nuts -- a car is simply a way to get from here to there. Ask 'em about blowing money on a flight to the Super Bowl -- that's different! As someone said once, people vary.

Life is too short to get worked up over what someone you never met says about anything.

I do think going into big debt for a ring or a wedding is not smart. I'm surprised at the number of guys who post for help with an e-ring & say they can't ask her to marry them till they get it. Materialism! If you need to give her a gift to get her to say yes, blow town now! You can take time to find the right one within your budget, or wait till you can save for a bigger one, but you can still be engaged.

I want what I want NOW has gotten so many into trouble!

--- Laurie

 

[TC1987]

What bothers me about it is that they are always so mean, and so sanctimonious, and so critical. I might feel "anti" about something someone else likes, but I don't go on a personal attack and call all of them self-centered, foolish, undeserving, vain, etc., I don't go around telling how superior I am, and how my way is better, and I never make a deliberate attempt to spoil someone else's happiness. I won't create a big dust-up on a forum, but I have killed more than a few diamond ring negativity threads with several pictures of undeniably gorgeous rings, real and sim. Then they can't even jump on the blood-diamond bandwagon anymore.

 

[Circe]

I've noticed the same phenomenon - I think I've just become so inured to it that it's white noise to me. The thing that caught my eye was several people saying the jewelry stores stopped sending them notices just when the interest was about to kick in.

But, agree 100% that there's a strong element of misogyny in this disproportionate reaction to stuff coded as female.

 

[JewelFreak]

Or from other women, too, Circe -- envy, maybe, or the same lack of interest men have. Your point is a good one, TC, & is one of the things about the internet that I can't stand. I've written about it a boring number of times here. Seems to be the way to express indifference, disagreement, even slight disapproval -- destroy the original writer with as much viciousness as you can. Vile.

--- Laurie

 

[rosetta]

Or from other women, too, Circe -- envy, maybe, or the same lack of interest men have. Your point is a good one, TC, & is one of the things about the internet that I can't stand. I've written about it a boring number of times here. Seems to be the way to express indifference, disagreement, even slight disapproval -- destroy the original writer with as much viciousness as you can. Vile.

--- Laurie

I hear you.

This sort of behaviour speaks volumes about the person who spews it forth. They get their kicks by putting other people down. Morons.

 

[SB621]

I love Suzie M!!!!

FWIW- I would never finance. That is what upgrades are for if you want something different.

 

[armywife13]

I love Suzie M!!!!

FWIW- I would never finance. That is what upgrades are for if you want something different.

I agree, I wouldn't finance a ring either. Though, I think I would make an exception if it meant I got your 5 ct honker in a VC halo. I would definitely be willing to pay interest on that baby!

 

[gem_anemone]

We financed our ring. Like a couple others said previously we finance a lot of things we need/want (i.e. my ering, a new bed). We only do it if it's zero percent interest and we always pay it off way before the due date. Some people do not have huge amounts of cash stored away, but still want to have nice things and are easily able to pay them off within the zero % interest window.

 

[MichelleCarmen]

If a couple decides to finance an eng ring, that is their business. It's not the wisest way to use credit, but if it's their only debt, then it's not that big of a deal as long as they are reasonable about the purchase. If they finance a smaller amount, say $1-5k and both are employed and it can be paid off in a decent time-period, then I don't see a problem with that. It's a little less easy to support the idea of financing a $30K ring, though...especially as that one is much less likely to get paid off in a few years and at those higher interest rates could be quite a financial burden.

 

[lovebug1031]

If a couple decides to finance an eng ring, that is their business. It's not the wisest way to use credit, but if it's their only debt, then it's not that big of a deal as long as they are reasonable about the purchase. If they finance a smaller amount, say $1-5k and both are employed and it can be paid off in a decent time-period, then I don't see a problem with that. It's a little less easy to support the idea of financing a $30K ring, though...especially as that one is much less likely to get paid off in a few years and at those higher interest rates could be quite a financial burden.

yipes thats a new car! people finance rings that $$? Mine was financed, but i was very clear if he needed to finance that it be no interest for__ months and paid off in that time period. I knew what he could afford, and would have NEVER asked for more than that...i knew my priorties with my ering needs - cut, setting, clarity, size, color!

i have a friend who has saved up about $4500 for a ring and his gf is insistent that she only wants a split shank double halo...i keep telling him it's going to eat up over 3/4 of his budget and he's going to be stuck with a small crappy center stone! Then again, he keeps showing me rings to consider for her from maul stores...go figure! She can't have an awesome center AND that setting for his budget....that's the issue with many girls my age, i find. they want what they want and don't care what the budget constraints are!

 

[TC1987]

I think a good compromise in those cases where the woman's wants are hopelessly larger than the guy's budget is he buys a nice diamond and a solitaire setting, and then she can fork out her own money to get her dream setting for it. Even if they break up before the marriage, she can still keep her dream setting and put a colored gem in it. But I never got interested in diamonds or expensive jewelry at all until I was about age 30, so maybe I have a more dispassionate perspective and I just can't grasp all of the drama and stress and conflict over a diamond and a mounting.