New Payment Plan Is Coming to Walmart Just Before the Holidays

So many families in the Ark-La-Tex rely on the layaway options that retail giants offer. In case you're not familiar with how layaway works it's quite simple. You shop and then you let the store hold all the items until you can come back and pay for the items.

For some families in the Ark-La-Tex, this is the only way they can handle the stress and financial burden of Christmas shopping. Walmart just announced a huge change that may throw a wrench in several shoppers' plans.

Walmart announced that it will quit offering layaway plans and instead steer shoppers to use Affirm. Think of Affirm as the "buy now, pay later" option. The way it works is you're basically getting a loan from a third party. You will get a monthly bill until you pay it off in full.

You don't have to shop at the store to be able to use Affirm. You can shop online and click the Affirm option at checkout. Depending on how much you spend you can anticipate financing your purchases anywhere from 3 to 24 months. What you need to know, you'll be paying for the products and then some. This almost feels criminal, in some cases, the interest will be as hefty as 30%. However, there are no late fees.

Here are the items you can purchase through affirm:

• Electronics
• Video Games
• Toys
• Home
• Arts & Crafts
• Musical Instruments
• Home Improvement
• Auto
• Sports & Outdoors
• Tools
• Baby
• Jewelry
• Apparel

If you plan to use Affirm make sure you read all the fine print. You can click here for more information.