The Washington monthly's: Monthly Journalism Award.

• Author: Epstein, Jonathan D.
• Position: Brief article

It's a cruel irony that being poor can be more expensive than being rich. One case in point is the "rent-to-own" business, which invites people without credit cards or savings to buy household appliances on monthly payment plans for hundreds of dollars more than the item's value. As Jonathan Epstein and Rod Watson explain in their comprehensive account of this predatory industry, people living paycheck to paycheck eventually wind up spending as much as $1,700 on a $430 refrigerator, or $2,000 on a washer-dryer that sells for $660 at Best Buy.

Most states have legislation regulating the rent-to-own business. But according to critics interviewed by Epstein and Watson, the laws are often "weak" and "written by the industry." In New York state, rent-to-own stores take advantage of a legal loophole that allows them to determine the cash value of an item, rather than using the...