More than two in five recent buy now, pay later (BNPL) customers ended up borrowing money to make their repayments, according to Citizens Advice.
People were asked how they had repaid BNPL purchases in the past 12 months. Some 42% had used some form of borrowing, such as a credit card, bank overdraft, borrowing from friends or family, a personal loan, a payday loan or a guarantor loan. In the 18 to 34 age group, just over half (51%) had used some form of borrowing.
BNPL can be a way to spread the cost of purchases affordably, without having to pay any interest. But the convenience of such services has led to concerns that people could leave themselves overstretched, with some having to turn to other, fee-charging methods of borrowing to pay the money back.
