Buy Now, Pay Later Lenders Pitch Loans for Essentials Like Rent and Electricity
'Buy Now, Pay Later' Lenders Pitch Loans for Needs Like Electricity and Rent
As consumer spending tightens, 'buy now, pay later' companies are expanding beyond retail to offer installment loans for everyday necessities such as rent, utilities, and groceries. This shift raises concerns about increased debt among vulnerable households, with critics warning that these loans can carry high fees and interest, potentially trapping borrowers in a cycle of debt. The article examines the growing trend and its implications for financial stability.
These are loans for things you need to live, and if you can't pay them back, you could end up in a worse situation than before.
- altairprime
For those in other countries wondering how the U.S. has sustained fifty years of household wage deflation and corporate profit inflation — it’s by issuing sequential waves of lower and lower ‘quality’ consumer credit (such as the subprime tranches popularized by the Big Short). That they’ve reached the point where they’re targeting advertising of grocery debt towards the half of the country’s population that could not afford food, medicine, and shelter without debt suggests that we’re nearing the limits of what the latest wave can solve. There certainly isn’t much runway left if they’re down to loans for utilities. So, the underlying question raised by this for me is:
What will happen to the workforce when BNPL debt runs out?
- apparent
I can sort of understand using BNPL for seasonal purchases like Christmas gifts, to spread the payments over time. But using them to pay for utilities or rent seems like a colossally bad idea.
In general, I don't favor regulation of loan products, on the notion that people should be free to get loans that fit their circumstances. But I wouldn't be opposed to limiting BNPL loans so they are not available for purchases that are (1) large dollar value and (2) recurring. Or there could be PSAs to warn people about them.
And regardless, they should be teaching kids about money management and the consequences of BNPL in school. There should be plenty of time now that kids aren't learning about "balancing their checkbook".
- recursivedoubts
Then everything includes itself in power,
Power into will, will into appetite;
And appetite, a universal wolf,
So doubly seconded with will and usury,
Must make perforce a universal prey,
And last eat up himself.
- rocketvole
I feel like this has already been a thing, at least in the US. In aldi, there is a popup when paying that asks if I want to bnpl.
- ButlerianJihad
For a while, I volunteered with a social services agency that had a deal with the power company where we could directly cover electric bills for people who were in danger of being disconnected. Nobody wants to lose their electrical power; in the desert it's kind of essential to keep the A/C and refrigerator going.
I got a dismal bird's eye view of the situation. In order to help anyone, we were required to collect various types of information from them. Any financial help is usually subject to a lot of paperwork and a lot of disclosure. Many people are reluctant/uncomfortable with this kind of scrutiny, especially if they are living in the shadows for any reason.
So my job on this side involved going down our list, and telephoning each household to try and get that information from them. I didn't work on this long, but very diligently I tell you, and I kid you not, I had a 99% failure rate. I was calling during the work hours of the weekdays, and we could practically never reach anyone at home. And that is totally understandable, if you were up against indigent people trying to save their household, and consider they were either at work, looking for work, or traveling around trying to get this kind of assistance in person.
Sadly in 2026, I would say that more people than ever before are leaning on social services to get the food they need, and pay their rent/utilities, because it's totally obvious that many families are failing in this regard, being displaced, and the homeles […]