I bought my desktop computer off lease this afternoon. After making monthly payments for three years, I was due. Now it always feels good to pay off a debt and own something free and clear. But when you lease a computer (or anything else, for that matter), you’re not really paying off a debt, because you never own the computer… you’re only borrowing it from the leasing company for the time being.

It’s all about making the payments.

After the last regularly scheduled payment cleared, I called the leasing company to get the buyout amount. There are all kinds of equipment leases. The lease on this computer was for fair market value:

The price that an interested but not desperate buyer would be willing to pay and an interested but not desperate seller would be willing to accept on the open market assuming a reasonable period of time for an agreement to arise. Usually used for auction pricing.. - PBS

Two hundred dollars and change seemed like a reasonable amount, and since I was interested but not desperate, I happily cut the check and dropped it (the check, not the computer) in the mail.

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[tags]computer lease,lease buyout,pay off,out of debt,fair market value[/tags]