If there’s one thing I’ve learned about consumer finance it’s the need to think carefully before signing your name to any long term service agreement. For example, my cell phone plan looked like a good deal when I first signed up but it didn’t seem so great after I got married to someone with a different cellular provider. Now we had two separate phone bills and the only way to consolidate them was for one of us to pay a costly cancellation fee. We decided to wait until my contract ran out rather than pay the fee but it meant enduring a year of higher phone bills.

Businesses will offer you discounts in order to get you to sign long term service contracts but you may wind up regretting doing so if a better deal comes around later. I once signed a three year gym deal with Bally in order to get a lower monthly rate. That was just one year before a new local gym began offering a much cheaper monthly rate and no contract requirements. Unfortunately, I was stuck at Bally’s and couldn’t take advantage of the better gym deal.

There will be times when signing a long term contract does make more sense. But don’t ever let any salesperson rush you into making a decision you may regret. Get all the facts first then consider how much it will cost you to get out of that contract should the need arise.