Retail wants hook FGTS feature, but consumers should be cautious

Retailers caught a ride on the calendar of looting of the dormant accounts of the Fund of guarantee of service (FGTS) and has been offering advantages outside of time to try to catch the consumer. The main attraction is the "parcelinha", with the lengthening of payment periods. But, not to make a bad deal, financial educators point out that workers should not embark on FGTS euphoria at any cost, for future planning.
The terms of payment vary according to each retailer. In Extra, network appliances, and smartphones may be paid in installments up to 20 times without interest in the card store. The company explains that these conditions were previously restricted to specific products or promotions for holidays.
Until July, when the release of the last batch of dormant accounts, Walmart will offer consumers the possibility to pay in up to 15 times their purchases of white goods, home appliances and telephony. In the remaining months of the year, the maximum period shall be ten months.
To Nicola Tingas, economic consultant of the National Association of credit, financing and investment (Acrefi), the extra revenue of FGTS is good both for the consumer – who makes bargaining power to try larger discounts –, the shopkeeper, who sees the risk of default fall.
The long-term benefits, however, can hide a risk to consumers, since the interest will always be embedded in plots, financial planner Alert Plan, Diana Benfatti. Even if the store advertise that payments are exempt from fees, "the value of money in time is always within the price". "What exists is the lack off. If you get discount greater than the interest that would be paying, it pays to pay cash. "
7 percent drop in sales in the last 12 months, according to the IBGE, combined with a still uncertain scenario, causes the retailer sector businessmen don''t feel comfortable to offer smaller interest on purchases splitted, evaluates the economic Director of the National Association of Finance executives Miguel Oliveira. For him, the deals announced are also a strategy to settle the high inventories.
Consulting. To try to leverage your sales with the FGTS, Casas Bahia spread on the façades of its stores banners that invite consumers to ask questions about the benefit with expert consultants. The State visited three shops in São Paulo, located in the square Ramos de Azevedo, on Liberty Avenue and the neighborhood of lemon, to learn how to work this. In one of the shops, the consultant identified himself as an employee of the box having the function to get the customer personal data to verify that it had the right to serve.
After the service, the customer would receive a voucher that promised exclusive discounts and was driven to seek out sellers. The report talked to several vendors, trying to bargain an advantage both in purchase in sight and in the installment. All benefits and offers announced on the YouTube channel of the network and vouchers delivered inside the shops, however, did not exist in addition to the prices and terms that the retailer already practiced earlier.
The State, Via retail, company responsible for the administration of the networks Casas Bahia and Ponto Frio, stated that it did not establish any partnership with the box to allow Bank staff should act in their stores. Through the note, the box States that there are no partnerships with retailers for the balance of the dormant accounts.
The Procon warns that consumers should not provide your personal information to consultants within stores. In addition, if the client receive some promotion with advantageous conditions and the offer is not met, it should complain. "The company could be accused of conducting false advertising," says Marta Aur, technical advisor of the Procon.
Prediction. The retail trade of the State of São Paulo may have extra revenues of up to 2.5 percent this year with money from inactive FGTS accounts. The projection, held by the Federation of Commerce, services and tourism of the State of São Paulo (Fecomercio-SP), points out that the extra features in the hands of consumers have the potential to leverage sales in the sector mainly in the capital, Sao Paulo and Campinas, totaling up to $15 billion in revenue. For the Fecomercio-SP, Economist Fabio Pina, although not all the money is destined for consumption, retailers can benefit in the medium and long term. To be used to pay off a debt or in applications where such resources enter the financial market and increase the ability of banks to grant loans.