Global “buy now, pay later” usage surges 400%, putting users under great pressure to repay

The buy now, pay later ( BNPL) payment model can be said to be one of the most popular payment methods abroad in the past two years. PayPal said that compared with 2020, the number of transactions completed through buy now, pay later during Black Friday this year increased by 400%. So far, more than 57% of British consumers aged 18 to 50 use BNPL.

According to financial consulting firm Open   Money 's research found that the 45-50 age group had the largest increase in new BNPL users, up 16% from last year. But at the same time, the number of people in this age group who were unable to pay their debts also increased by 20% compared to 2020.

The survey of 2,000 UK adult shoppers found they most commonly used BNPL to buy laptops, mobile phones and other tech products, followed by clothing and holiday gifts.

41% of the respondents chose BNPL as a payment method to purchase such high-priced goods because they could not pay for the product in one lump sum. Another 20% of the respondents believed that it was reasonable to spread the product cost over multiple payments.

Especially during the epidemic, BNPL helped many people get through the boring period of isolation.

Rudy Schultz , a consumer in the United States , used BNPL to buy a $1,200 laptop before contracting COVID-19 , and paid it back with interest within six months. Schultz said that if he had waited to save money, he would not have been able to survive the two weeks of quarantine and treatment, and he would not be able to buy the computer until a year and a half later. So even if there was an extra charge, he felt it was worth it.

For consumers who can consciously repay their debts on time, BNPL is indeed a good way to help them buy their favorite high-priced products.

But at the same time, there are also many consumers who are unable to repay on time. BNPL is like "buying for a while, but paying back is a nightmare". In the UK, the number of users who defaulted on their loans due to using BNPL increased from 38% last year to 43% this year; 29% of consumers had to ask relatives and friends for help to repay the loans, a proportion that increased by 10% from 2020.

Open   Money General Manager Haley Millhouse   "Worryingly, two in five users are struggling to repay the debt they incur through BNPL. Many are turning their debt over to family and friends, or using other forms of borrowing to repay," the report said.

She also said the UK financial regulator should introduce new rules for companies offering BNPL schemes as more sellers worry that consumers are becoming increasingly financially burdened by debts they don't have the capacity to repay.

Haley also said that many people used BNPL to pay for their Christmas shopping without considering how to repay it and did not realize the consequences of owing money. Nearly one in six respondents in the survey did not even think that BNPL was a debt.

As BNPL payment methods become more and more mainstream, in order to adapt to market changes, formulating appropriate rules and regulations for BNPL will not only help protect the rights and interests of merchants and consumers, but also be conducive to the improvement and subsequent development of BNPL.

Buy now, pay later

BNPL