Last month a friend bought a phone from a merchant that offers Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) program. In fact it wasn't planned. Her phone had just gotten broken that morning and she had to get another one ASAP so as not to miss an important deal. She made initial deposit and then a repayment plan plus interests of 6months.
Before I go on,
what is Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL)?
A buy now, pay later plan (BNPL) is a loan offered to a customer at the point of sale so they can purchase merchandise on credit but without a credit card. Popular options include Shop Pay Installments from Shopify, Affirm, Afterpay, Sezzle, PayPal, and Klarna. Many will run an instant soft credit check on the customer (the type that doesn’t affect your credit score), and then release funds for a point-of-sale loan. Customers have different options for paying off the loan balance, which typically depend on the company used and the amount borrowed; some payment options incur interest, but others do not, and some companies charge late fees or fees for missed payments. BNPL companies may offset the lack of interest charged to the consumer with a fee that they charge the retailer.
Okay, back to the main gist. If she fails to make repayment on the loan plus interest within the said date every month, her access to most of the functionalities on the device will be locked. Since then she has been thinking, who really benefits from the Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) - the customer, the company or the BNPL vendor(third-party credit specialists that manage the BNPL program)?