Comment on U.S. consumers are so fucked up, that they put more than $1 billion on buy-now, pay later services during Cyber Monday

• skankhunt42@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  For what reason? Am I missing out on something?

  Seems like it’s better to just pay now if you have the cash.

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  • platypode@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Assuming you need to buy the product, taking on zero interest debt gives you greater liquidity that you can theoretically activate elsewhere to improve your cash flow. For the amounts and time scales of BNPL, though, I don’t entirely see the point.

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    • arrow74@lemmy.zip ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

      I don’t do this for many things but i do use it sometimes

      I’ve used care credit because a single emergency vet bill can be pricey and while I could empty my savings that’s not the best idea. So I just pay it off within the promotional period. Worse case scenario I am in a position to secure a traditional personal loan to completely pay off that balance at a more favorable interest rate.

      I used a 0% intro rate for a European vacation once and it was great paying that off over a year.

      That being said I wouldn’t finance groceries or Christmas shopping. That’s going a bit far

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    • Prathas@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      For the amounts and time scales **hard inquiries of BNPL, though, I don’t entirely see the point.

      FTFY

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      • Warl0k3@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        Most BNPL services don’t make classically hard inquiries, though - as I understand it that’s actually a big part of the problem, because they are able to skirt a great deal of the credit regulations put in place to prevent predatory lending by not engaging directly with the credit agencies, instead relying on 3rd party consumer information data brokers of dubious reliability.

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  • Lost_My_Mind@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    if you have the cash

    And there’s your answer.

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    • Klear@quokk.au ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      How is that an answer? They said they only do it if they have the money, so why?

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    • dxc@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      What happened to look through the fingers

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  • mayorchid@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    I got a car loan once even though I had the cash to buy outright. I didn’t want to drain my savings and end up high and dry if there was an emergency. It was worth it to me to pay a little interest so I still had a cash buffer.

    If I were living paycheck to paycheck like many folks are, I imagine the logic would be similar for smaller purchases.

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  • Exulion@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    Eh, mostly just because less money coming out of my account at once feels better and there isn’t a downside really. It’s mostly like Amazon’s pay in 4 etc, especially if I think there is a chance I might return it. I would not ever not pay it off and incur fees. Its nothing special, I don’t touch afirm though generally just Amazon and paypals short duration things.

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• wesker@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  Are many of them no interest?

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  • Pogogunner@sopuli.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    I’m not a BNPL user, but my understanding is that most are interest free (to attract more users) unless a borrower is late/misses a payment.

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    • wesker@lemmy.sdf.org ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      I assumed that was the trap, or retroactive interest. Just seems to prey on those already at financial disadvantage.

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      • elgordino@fedia.io ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        The BNPL company also charges the merchant much more than a credit card company does. Something like 6%. So they’re also making money on people who do pay in full at 0%.

        The theory goes that the merchant is happy to pay the higher rate because it makes a sale happen that otherwise wouldn’t. Unfortunately that increased cost just gets added to the price everyone pays.

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  • Blaster_M@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    PayPal Pay In 4, Paypal 12 months (sometimes), Amazon Affirm, all no interest. Unless you miss the payment. Then bend over for it. Interests rates vary from 8 percent to 32 percent retroactive, depending on who you get it through. I’ve used BNPL several times, but always made sure I can afford the payment in the monthly budget, and only when it is zero interest.

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