Credit-sales technique that divides the amount due into individual segments billed over time. It usually works best on purchases greater than $30. Installment billing is attractive to some buyers because it may solve a cash-flow problem and/or because the perceived price of the merchandise seems lower than if the price were charged all at once. The amount of each installment is usually highlighted on the promotion form, while the total cost is downplayed.

The amount of each billing segment is usually calculated by dividing the total selling price by the number of segments, resulting in equal payments. If there are unpaid prior segments, they will be added to current billing segments, or the current amount due will be recalculated based on the number of segments remaining.

Installment billing generally does not increase pay-up (the total percentage of credit buyers who pay) but does increase gross and net response. A disadvantage of installment billing is that it increases billing costs and slows the receipt of cash, although, in many cases, 50% of installment buyers will pay in full on the first bill. The disadvantages of installment billing must be weighed against the added response.

Installment billing is the primary billing technique of direct-mail agencies selling magazine subscriptions.

In general: anything given or received as part of a series of steps. See also Revolving Credit.

Finance: part of the same Debt, payable in one of successive periods as agreed; payment made to reduce a Mortgage or other debt.

n

Definition: part, section
Antonyms: whole

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This entry contains information applicable to United States law only.

Regular, partial portion of the same debt, paid at successive periods as agreed by a debtor and creditor.

An installment loan is designed to be repaid in certain specified, ordinarily equal amounts over a designated period, such as a year or a number of months.

Dansk (Danish)
n. - rate, afdrag, ydelse, portion, levering, sending

idioms:

• instalment plan    afbetalingssystem

Français (French)
n. - échéance, acompte, tranche, versement (d'un crédit), versement partiel/échelonné

idioms:

• instalment plan    contrat de vente à crédit

Deutsch (German)
n. - Rate, Fortsetzung, Folge

idioms:

• instalment plan    Ratenzahlung

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - (εξοφλητική) δόση, τμηματική εξόφληση, (για ανάγνωσμα, εκπομπή κ.λπ.) συνέχεια, επεισόδιο

idioms:

• instalment plan    σύστημα δόσεων

Italiano (Italian)
scadenza, rata

idioms:

• instalment plan    pagamento rateale

Português (Portuguese)
n. - prestação (f)

idioms:

• instalment plan    plano (m) de pagamento em prestações

Русский (Russian)
очередной взнос при рассрочке, часть, очередной выпуск

idioms:

• instalment plan    в рассрочку

Español (Spanish)
n. - plazo

idioms:

• instalment plan    venta o compra a plazos

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - avbetalning(stermin), amortering, avsnitt, häfte

中文（简体） (Chinese (Simplified))
分期付款, 分次连载, 按月分摊

idioms:

• instalment plan    分期付款办法

中文（繁體） (Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 分期付款, 分次連載, 按月分攤

idioms:

• instalment plan    分期付款辦法

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 분할불입금, 1회분, 설비

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 分割払いの払込, 一回分

idioms:

• instalment plan    分割払い方式

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮תשלום (מתוך סדרת תשלומים), חלק (מסדרה)‬

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