the.com/instalment
Debt, chopped into polite little servings so it never feels like debt.
means One of several smaller payments made over time instead of a single lump sum, so you get the thing now and pay the rest off in chunks.
from From French 'estaler' (to fix, set, or place), via the older English legal term 'estallment' meaning a fixed arrangement of payments — itself rooted in the idea of 'stall,' a fixed spot or position. The notion is of spreading payments into set, orderly slots rather than one single moment, which is why 'instalment' still carries that sense of debt tamed into a schedule.
- spelling
- british for installment, same wallet damage
- origin
- from old french estal, meaning fixed position
- psychology
- makes big prices feel small, deliberately
- trap
- total cost often exceeds paying upfront