While it has long been accepted that payment methodimpacts consumer behavior at the point of purchase,relatively less is known about how any effect may manifestitself in cases where the post-purchase consumptionexperiences last over long periods of time. In this article, weattempt to contribute in this space with specific focus on howpayment method might systematically affect replacementtiming of durable goods. We propose a model of apsychological mechanism linking payment method toreplacement timing. The mechanism is based on the effortjustification paradigm of cognitive dissonance which statesthat experiences are judged to be more positive when there ismore pain/effort in their attainment. Hence, greater couplingreminds consumers of the pain and effort expended inpurchasing the durable, leading to judgments of morepositive product experiences, both retrospective andanticipated, thereby leading to longer replacement horizons.In general, payment methods that have a differential impacton coupling over time are likely to have a correspondingimpact on replacement times. In this article, we argue thatcash purchases are likely to experience decoupling over timebecause of payment depreciation, while loan purchases arelikely to have significant coupling over a longer period of timebecause of regular installment payments resulting in longerreplacement horizons for goods purchased with loans.It needs to be pointed out that there are significant challengesin the empirical exploration of how payment methods mightaffect replacement decisions of durable goods. Perhaps thepaucity of literature on this issue is attributable to the inherentdifficulties in this regard. As durables are used over a longperiod, a randomized controlled lab experiment will necessarilyinvolve hypothetical situations of payment methods andproduct experiences which are likely to be weak manipulationsat best. Hence, the best end-to-end test of the hypothesis ispossible in the field with its inherent challenges, especially giventhe inter-temporal nature of the decision context. In a studyconducted with actual owners of a durable, we found supportfor the link between payment method and intended durable