Purchase Now, Pay Later Plans In The Covid Economic system Is Booming

New trainers, a MacBook, a peloton – nowadays you can pay for almost anything in installments.

As with the schedule of previous loans, now known as point of sale loans, “Buy Now, Pay Later” allows shoppers to split their purchases into equal installments with no interest or fees, even with a debit card that can make even the largest of its own -Ticket items seem affordable.

Almost half, or 44%, of consumers said using Buy Now, Pay Later is or is very important in determining how much they are spending on vacation.

According to a recent survey of 6,500 adults conducted by Cardify.ai, a data firm that tracks consumer spending, they are concerned that they will overpend.

48% said they would buy now and pay later so they can spend at least 10% to 20% more than they would with a credit card.

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With the increasing dynamics of installment payments, start-ups such as Afterpay, Affirm, Klarna and QuadPay are booming.

These companies are working with merchants to provide an installment payment option at the checkout. Similar to credit cards, they charge the retailer, not the consumer, a processing fee.

At the same time, retailers benefit from the higher average purchase prices.

With more customers staying at home and buying almost anything online due to coronavirus-related restrictions, “it has been a perfect storm for the point of sale,” said Liz Pagel, senior vice president and director of consumer credit at TransUnion.

This phenomenon has put pressure on other lenders to come into play.

This year PayPal launched a new Pay-in-4 offer. Both Visa and Mastercard have announced partnerships with payment processors to create installment payment options, and American Express has created “Plan It” that allows cardholders to split large purchases of $ 100 or more into equal monthly payments for up to 24 months of no interest, available to US customers.

“We know that a little flexibility can go a long way, and sometimes people need more time to pay off purchases, especially during vacations,” said Shikha Narula, vice president, US consumer credit, American Express.

A separate survey by Amex Trendex found that half of all consumers would like more options for paying for Christmas presents this year and more than a quarter of consumers are more stressed about vacation spending than in previous years.

… it is really important to do some homework on these services before diving in.

Matt Schulz

Chief industry analyst at CompareCards

Since Plan It launched, nearly 5.5 million such plans have been created – mostly by Millennial and Gen Z consumers – with a total value of more than $ 4 billion, American Express said. The average plan size is $ 815.

However, if a cardholder misses the monthly budget, the account may default.

According to Matt Schulz, chief industry analyst at LendingTree, there is always a catch for consumers. If you miss a payment, you could face late fees, deferred interest, or other penalties depending on the lender.

“What happens when you miss a payment can be very different,” he said. “Some have late fees, others don’t, for example.

“This inequality is another reason why it is really important to do some homework on these services before you dive in,” added Schulz. “Since we are just getting started with these types of loans, there is no need to put all fees and interest rates in a single, large-format box like we do with credit cards.”

Card issuers will include your payment due date and minimum payment warnings on your monthly balance sheet.

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In the midst of the coronavirus outbreak and the ensuing economic crisis, consumers are generally more conscientious.

As Americans continue to grapple with rising Covid-19 cases and widespread unemployment, nearly 40% of Americans plan to spend less on gifts this holiday season than last year, the largest percentage since 2013, according to CNBC All-America Economic survey.

Although more than 186 million consumers have credit cards, credit card debt is falling to “unprecedented” levels, said Paul Siegfried, senior vice president and director of credit cards at TransUnion.

Average debt per borrower was $ 5,075 in the third quarter of 2020, a 10% year-over-year decrease, according to TransUnion.

There were fewer late and missed payments for credit card accounts in 2020, too: the percentage of overdue accounts that were 90 days or more overdue fell from 1.81% in the previous year to 1.22%.

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