alt Hacker NewsBNPL is 0% interest over N months. A credit card is 20% APY over the total balance over minimum payment. And it's offered by my CC providers.
For some larger purchases on a 12 month plan, leaving the money in savings loses me 1.5% cash back but gains me around 3% interest (after accounting for the depleting principle).
It would be stupid not to do it sometimes. I don't really get the financer's benefit. Though maybe it's because I do pay it, and if I didn't there would be 200% APY or something.
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The seller benefits from the increased demand, the financier sells this as a service to the seller.
Yeah, I’m not sure if BNPL loans have changed in the last decade at all but the financiers make money on the people who don’t pay the balance by the end of the term. I’ve financed a couple expensive electronics when it made more sense in my younger days and the terms were such that if you don’t pay it off by the end of the term, you owed ~24% of the total bill in interest.
I bought tons of solar panels with 24 month 0% interest CC for my DIY installation. Kinda makes entire system free. I wish BNPL were offering longer payment periods, few months is not worth the risk at all.
The merchant pays a fee for it, and they do it to get a sale that they otherwise would have missed.
If you decide to save $25/mo for a $100 product, that is 4 months for you to change your mind, have an emergency suck up that money, or score a lower price by waiting for a sale. But for some segment of the population, they will close on a pay-in-4 right now instead of waiting, and that is guaranteed money.