Man, say what you will about credit cards, but at the very least with many of those you get rewards of some sort. BNPL is just the consumer version of the payday loan; you get nothing but the scam.
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Remember kids: someone is making money off of this, and it’s not you. There’s a reason some European countries have (started to) put this BNPL under strict credit regulation.
I'm glad at least some countries are taking notice.
The Dutch national Financial Authority, for example, has a good explanation on why this is problematic and what exactly will happen per November 2026: https://www.afm.nl/en/sector/actueel/2025/juli/pb-marktupdate-BNPL-2025
A legally required age verification will be introduced. We want this to take effect as soon as possible to prevent minors from using BNPL.
Wait, it's legal to put minors into debt in the Netherlands? In Sweden, a minor wouldn't be liable to pay any such invoice, as minors can't sign any legally-binding agreements without their guardian's consent.
Paypal had a 20% cashback thing going on when you use BNPL. I'm sure that contributed.
It's fucked but with a charitable view, I can see some logic.
For all the nonsense, there are a handful of good deals on the Friday/Monday. If I were living paycheque to paycheque, seems like a bnpl scheme could let me budget say, November to February for christmas gifts, interest free unlike a credit card.
That being said, that's the theory. I imagine a lot of folks end up in over their heads much like credit cards etc.
as consumers looked for greater flexibility in managing their holiday budgets
Yea, that's a really nice way to put it.
There is no debtor's prison in the usa. Charge everything you can, especially if you are poor. Let the chips fall where they may. With any luck the government will bail out the citizens like they do for the airlines, car companies and banks. /s
No debtors prison but there is a credit score. And that shit is the gateway to paying less for everything when you're borrowing money. Especially for a mortgage on a house so you actually have equity in the property you're living in.
Wrecking your credit score basically gate keeps you from a lot of stuff sadly.
I mean, I know you said /s but just saying fucking up your credit can screw you hard in the hyper capitalist hellscape we live in.
It really should be called "buy now, pay more later". When are these greedy fucks going to learn that it's not good when consumers don't have money to spend? If all their money goes towards interest payments then we see a collapse in demand.
Except many BNPL options are 0% interest rate. I just renovated an apartment with ikea stuff and they offered me 0% interest rate over 1 year - it makes no sense to not take this offer.
Many companies would gladly lose 4% (avg inflation) to guarantee a sale especially when dipping on loans are basically impossible today for the average consumer.
Cyber Monday is funny because it started with people buying things at work so it wouldn’t show up in their shared computers’ browser history, and now it’s like a whole made-up thing
Capitalism never misses an opportunity to exploit consumers.
I do know that while I was getting all the family Christmas shopping done with Black Friday I saw a few buy now pay later offers. Most prominent was Pay Pal. The offer was if you use their buy now pay later feature with zero interest, they give you 5% in PayPal cash (whatever that means). I saw it several times, so I figure people were jumping on that
Key detail missing here - what is the interest rate on avg? I buy a bunch of stuff at BNPL because with 0% interest over 1 year it's essentially at least 2-4% cheaper due to inflation.
2008 recession will look like child's play compared to our next global recession.
Just another once in a lifetime event.
How does buy now pay later compare to credit cards. Like everyone used to have those, have they given out less, or is that staying the same/more?
It is worse as they don't report when you are paying the loan unlike credit card. They only report that you paid it off. So it just messes with your credit score.
BNPL generally has far less consumer protection than CCs. It's also vastly easier to access BNPL services as they're typically inserted into the payment process online, and don't do a very good job of informing consumers of things like repayment terms and interest charges.
There's definitely a case to be made that they deliberately target those who are less financially aware who are most vulnerable to predatory lenders pushing them into unmanageable debt.
So much for that black Friday boycott.
Did nobody think that the “consumer” is capitalism way of speaking about humans?
I’m not a consumer, I’m a free man!
Funnily enough, there is a case as to why the word consumer so often pops up, especially in capitalist context. The first documented case of consumer was in the Middle Ages, in a French dictionary. It derives its meaning from Consumare, Latin for "use" but in a destructive manner. For example, you'd consume a candle or an apple because you'll use them and then they're gone, they're broken/destroyed. Being a consumer back then was a bad thing because people were so ridiculously poor and naturally could not waste. Now contrast that with the same French dictionary which defines customer as a person who routinely buys from the same merchant.
There's a reason why this is being used so prevalently today. Customer implies agency, a process of thinking and making a choice, while a consumer just consumes. Let me give an example. "We need to check how the consumers will receive it." it implies zero agency on the "consumers" part. Like feeding a toddler. But if I just say "We need to check how the customers will receive it", it again implies agency that we have to do well to satisfy the needs of the customer and not just try feeding a toddler by using dirty tricks.
So you're saying the point of using "consumer" over "customer" is to dehumanize people so businesses don't feel bad bilking them. Sounds right
When I was younger and was just freshly moved out, I used BNPL 0% interest a lot (iirc it was Newegg, was like 15 years ago). It was kind of necessary to get a computer and I had just got an RA contract that paid stipends monthly, guaranteed for 5 years.
If you already have money and can get 0% interest, you can reinvest that cash as long as you can guarantee a payoff (set reminders!). You can put that $2,000 in a CD for that exact amount of time, too, and earn yourself back 3%-4%. That said, they might have caught onto my grift cause they usually offer 5% back OR 0% interest, lol.
Our current fist currency is all fake. Based on farts and promises.
The users of buy now pay later probably discovered that loophole in our society, that they are just using someone else's fake money to buy stuff.
They are onto something enlightened
No. Their business model is literally currently failing.
People can't afford to pay back. That is why they couldn't afford saving for it. So the service provider will sit on bad debt until no one wants to leant them money anymore and they are bankrupt.
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