‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ Services ⇥ themarkup.org

Maddy Varner, the Markup:

If you’ve scrolled through any e-commerce sites lately, you’ve probably seen a version of it: A charming dinner plate costs $28 or “4 interest-free installments of $7.00 by Afterpay.” A pastoral checkered dress could run you $74.50 … or, alternatively, “4 interest-free payments of $18.62 with Klarna.”

In the past year, more and more merchants have started incorporating “buy now, pay later” options into their websites. They’re often prominently featured on product pages, where shoppers who might otherwise click away are encouraged to instead splurge and split their spending into periodic payments.

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While BNPL companies present these loans as a smart budgeting tool, experts say costs can quickly add up, leaving shoppers with mounting debt. And regulators across the world have started to rein in these services, concerned that they can negatively impact the young consumers who tend to use them.

It is a bit disappointing but unsurprising that Apple is rumoured to be working on a competing offering. Once a company has got its feet wet in the murky sea of financial services, why would it be reluctant to go further?