Amazon aims to make hardware more affordable with interest-free payments

The cost of PC components is often in flux, with graphics cards, RAM and storage in particular soaring in price throughout the past two years. While prices are beginning to come down, it looks like Amazon could have you covered in future as it launches a trial for interest-free finance options in the United States.

Previously, the only way to cut down a large price tag into smaller monthly increments was to opt into traditional finance, adding a premium onto the full cost. The total of the interest differed per site and was highly dependent on someone’s credit rating. Amazon hopes to do away with all of that noise, making finance options more accessible than ever.

Its new scheme is currently being tested in the US, offering select participants the chance to split the cost across 5 separate monthly payments, with the first fifth taken at the initial purchase. The buyer will not be subject to the usual credit check, but have their account checked to meet specific requirements, such as having an account that is at least one-year-old, have an active credit card linked – although it won’t be checked for credit – and a good payment history on the site itself.

So far, the monthly payment option covers qualifying products sold by the company directly, such as laptops, full desktops, tablets, monitors, computer components, networking and various accessories. This particularly makes top-end graphics cards and processors a lot easier to grab, with $1,000 components and peripherals broken down into a much more manageable $200-per-month.

Currently, international versions of the site offer the 5-monthly payments scheme with no added interest on Amazon's Alexa devices. There's no word on if or when the option will roll out to third-party products, however this is likely to be a missed opportunity otherwise. For now, shoppers looking for anything other than Amazon's in-house items will unfortunately have to deal with the premium added via interest.

KitGuru Says: It’s certainly a good move to undercut other providers of finance, even with its imposed restrictions. Would you take advantage of Amazon’s new Pay Monthly requirements?

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