Interest-free weekly or monthly repayments on things such as a pair of jeans or a smartwatch without signing a huge amount of paperwork is becoming increasingly popular.
According to the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, shoppers in Australia spent over $5.6 billion through Buy Now Pay Later providers in 2018-19 when the number of active accounts rose to over six million in the country of 25 million.
Fiona Guthrie is the CEO of Financial Counselling Australia. She has been advocating for regulations on these services.
“Your payments are spread over an equal number of weeks that can range from six weeks to many months and even years. You can get buy now, pay later from just a couple of hundred dollars up to about $30,000 and because it sits outside the credit laws there really is no limit on how high that product could be marketed and sold to people.”
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