Русско-англо-русский юридический словарь

Hire purchase agreements are agreements whereby an owner of goods allows a person, the hirer, to hire goods from him for a period of time by paying installments. The hirer has an option to buy the goods at the end of the agreement if all installments are being paid. This is not a contract of sale but contract of bailment as the hirer merely has an option to buy the goods. Although the hirer has the right of using the goods, he is not the legal owner during the term of the agreement. (LawTeacher)

Hire purchase (HP) or leasing is a type of asset finance that allows firms or individuals to possess and control an asset during an agreed term, while paying rent or instalments covering depreciation of the asset, and interest to cover capital cost. [...] leasing prevents the risk of an asset’s value depreciating quickly and provides flexibility to enter into a new contract at the end of the original lease’s fixed term (ACCA Global)

In 1972 it was standard practice for hire purchase firms, along with the banks, to refuse a loan to a married woman unless her husband underwrote it, even if she was out in the workplace bringing in her own income. (Independent.ie)