Do you use BNPL personally? Or do you usually pay the total cost at the moment of purchase? Apart from things like a house of course!

Would you say it’s common where you live,or kind of frowned upon?

38 comments

  1. I just read a newspaper article about the growth of BNPL.

    Of course it has existed for a long time,in various forms.

    But in some countries it seems to be more and more popular, and is even the default method on some websites…instead of paying 100 euros instantly for (say) a new jacket,that is split into 3 installments that you pay over some months.

    AFAIK it is mostly interest free…at least if you pay the installments on time!

  2. It really depends looks like it. I don’t know anyone that buys stuff on payment plans but apparently the webshop Wehkamp has 300.000 customers with active loans.

  4. When I order online, I always do the “pay after delivery” option if available.
    Other than that, it’s very uncommon.

  5. I was raised with the “if you can’t afford it, don’t buy it, save for it first” mentality and so did the majority of people I know it seems. And I think this has been the approach most of my countrymen took as well.

    But lately I’ve been seeing an option of “pay later” during on-line checkout next to the standard “Debit card” or “Pay on arrival”. So I would guess it’s getting more popular?

    I personally don’t like it. I just got my first credit card (I’m 30), just so I don’t have problems with renting a car abroad. The overwhelming standard here is debit == spending your own money, not perpetually living on debt.

  6. Very popular I guess, yes I use it. Like Klarna has 30 days now?

    Usually just to avoid spending the money I have between the 25th and the 25th when we get paid in Sweden. So all that can go towards food or entertainment and then when my wage comes I just pay the entire bill for whatever I’ve ordered during that time

  7. I was raised by my parents to avoid getting a loan other than a mortgage. But I guess some people do this. You do see some ads from time to time.

  9. It seems to be increasingly popular here in the UK over the past few years, but in reality it’s not a new concept – mail order catalogues used to very common in the 70’s and 80’s (pay later weekly at high interest).

    What we are seeing now are things like Klarna and Clearpay popping up as default payment option on nearly all online retailers, offering the ability to spread the payment with no credit charge.

    ​

    I understand if there is an urgent need for something and you don’t have the cash available upfront, then great they offer a good service.

    What I don’t understand is my wife will sometimes use it when we are pretty comfortable financially, and could easily pay for anything we buy upfront.

  10. Belgians are pretty anti-debt in general, so stuff like this isn’t too popular.

    You do get stuff like Europabank offering loans at “only” 4% (or whatever it is), but every single loan ad has to come with the words “Careful! Borrowing money costs money!”

    The major exceptions are major purchases – a house, house renovations, a car, and *sometimes* you can find someone who’s paying off a phone or some sort of appliance, but that’s about it.

  11. Pretty common for mortgages and large reforms. Its getting common for cars, since they are increasing the price by a lot and most sellers are pushing very hard for financing as they get continuous revenue.

  12. Everything Lithuanians buy is through loan/credit. Otherwise you can’t afford anything

  13. Not really popular unless for big items like house, car or maybe like expensive electronics

    I use PayPal pay later for some things that I order online but that’s it

  14. Italy, much more common than people think. Actually, for some industries interests on loans for purchasing the goods are almost more lucrative than selling the goods themselves.

  15. Very uncomon, people tend to not buy what they can’t afford. Excluding real estates and cars.

  16. I think most people in Turkey shop this way for big stuff nowadays as otherwise they can’t afford much. It can turn into “buy now, pay hopefully later” though…

  19. It has been very prevalent for decades, also before credit cards and internet shopping. It’s very common for stores to offer either delayed payment or credit where you pay back over time after a hiatus on payments in the beginning. Buying phones through so called “Swap” agreements or deals is also very common as an example, where you pay down on your phone through your provider over two years and has the option to swap phones in the same period, not that different from car leasing schemes. Norwegians have very high use of credit cards and general debt burden on average. It’s very common to purchase holidays with credit cards to pay over time and it’s just as common to see people swipe (nowadays tap) one of their several credit cards when out at the town.

  20. I don’t think it’s really popular in France, except for really expensive items (more than 1k).

    We all have debit cards so we’re not used to live on debt.

    Saying that you have debt except for your house or your car is mostly seen as a bad thing.

  21. I use it for online shopping. But not because i don’t have the money, but because I want to see the product before paying for it

  22. Frowned upon but it’s getting more and more popular with young adults and as you can imagine it leads to a lot of problems.

    I personally don’t use it because I was raised on the mentality “if you can’t afford it you shouldn’t buy it unless you have no other choice”.

  23. It’s only been available here since last November, but bear in mind that credit cards (that allow rolling balances) are far more ubiquitous here than in a lot of continental Europe and many have interest free purchases for various promotional periods.

    If it competes, it’ll do ok.

    There was always a history of “hire purchase” use here, especially for large purchases of durable goods. I’m not sure it’s been as big as it was. Most big retailers have some system in place for major purchases.

    Back in the day, when ESB, the public power company, used to have its own retail network, Shop Electric, it was possible to just add appliances (normally interest free) to your ESB bill to be paid in instalments, normally over 12 months. That’s how many households in the mid 20th century financed products like a new washing machine or cooker or whatever.

    It was eventually regulated out of existence as it was considered unfair competition and had to operate as a normal hire purchase scheme and then ESB left the retail market entirely anyway in the early 2000s.

    Store cards were very common too before credit cards were normal. I remember my parents using a card from Switzers, a long gone mid market, major Irish department store group. It was relaunched as called Brown Thomas and went much more expensive and upmarket. However, it was often how they made big purchases : TVs, furniture, suits etc back in the day.

    A lot of those cards just became branded Visa / Mastercard and were sold off to banks.

    Outside of that we have easily accessed personal loans and overdrafts from banks, but also Credit Unions, small not-for-profit savings and loans banks operated on a community basis. They’ve been around since the early 1950s and have always been a way of accessing small and mid sized finance, often a lot more reasonably than a commercial bank or credit card co.

    Credit Unions are also a feature of the systems here. They are non-profit mini banks, owned by a community of their members. They’ve been around since after WWII and basically offered micro finance services – small and medium loans, savings etc – they were a big part of digging communities out of serious poverty traps back in the day. They evolved and 75% of the population use them – quite a handy and friendly system.

  24. I ordered my pc parts and paid in cash when thet arrived, it was much better, safer bet than ordering, paying by card and not getting it

  25. Well i totally dont like this idea, you can buy too much products and suffer without money later. I usually just wait when the full summ is available, even if i need a lot of time.

  26. Netherlands here. I use it all the time, but just because BNPL checkout is so much quicker than having to go through the iDeal payment flow.

    So when I order something on [Bol.com](https://Bol.com) (our local Amazon equivalent) I use BNPL and pay them all at once every 2-3 weeks.

    I don’t use it as a form of credit that extends beyond 2-3 weeks, and I’ve got the money.

  27. We have a lot of ads like that in Italy but it’s mostly for household items and I don’t think it’s as popular as people may believe

  28. I only really use the option to pay later (usually max 30 days,) for things like clothing. I’ll order a bunch, try it all on at home, decide what I want and what I don’t, then send everything back that I don’t like. Installment plans for purchases aren’t really a thing here, though. It’s just a given that if you can’t afford something right now, you don’t buy it.

  29. Very popular in Hungary, and frowned upon at the same time.

    I would personally never use anything like it. I get if you need to take out a mortgage to buy a house. Not all debt is bad.

    But there is zero reason to get into debt to buy a TV or phone if you can’t pay upfront . One of the reasons why someone lives paycheck to paycheck perpetually.

  30. You mean consumer credits? That’s common within a certain target public. Impulse buyers with small incomes. I call it reverse shoplifting. They know exactly that those people cannot control their impulses and make them pay extra for that.

    Or do you mean paying within an extended grace period of e.g. a month while you already have the item in your hands? That’s super common. Everyone does that once in a while.

  31. Never ever do this please people. Never do this. They will hit you with 10+% APR when you aren’t looking.

  32. I wish we had that option here ..my mom and grandma told me they bought so many things in Australia years ago.
    From what I know neighborhood businesses may do that or people that know you.

  33. In another thread on Reddit, a city council disallowed a “beerpong” championship on the basis it was promoting drinking alcohol to youths.

    Now wondering –maybe I should add an entry in /showerthoughts– if making publicity for this, isn’t promoting bankruptcy in adults, and whether this is not becoming a bigger and bigger problem in our society.

    ​

    I’ll see myself out.

  34. I personally use it a lot – but only because I want to have the security of not losing my money when I order something online which then doesn’t arrive, isn’t to my liking and has to be returned etc. It’s never because I don’t have the money atm. And I usually pay it off once I have the products and am satisfied with them.

  35. In the Netherlands, it’s an option, but idk how popular it is. For me, I’ll likely NEVER use it, because buy now-pay later methods imo are a recipe for disaster and debt. If I got the money, cool. If I don’t, too bad, I won’t buy it

  36. Unfortunately in Romania “personal loans” are pretty common in poor environments. People used to get these loans for any commodities like a new TV or a larger refrigerator and not so much for personal investments

Leave a Reply
You May Also Like