Afterpay is a digital service that makes it possible for you to buy something now and pay it off in fortnightly installments. Unlike layby, you’ll get the product right away whether you’re buying online or in-store. However, beware of the fees and potential complications of using this service.
Do you have experience with Afterpay? Let us know in the comments below.
The proliferation of these “take now, pay after” businesses perhaps is getting to the stage they deserve their own little corner of Money on this site. ZipPay, ZipMoney, Openpay, Afterpay, Once, Certegy, and maybe more are popping up in a Store near you (sarcasm here but also reality). Now we even have pop up Payday Loan ATMs (not what they call themselves but a close enough analogy). Is Choice concerned about these? I am assuming they are and are looking closely at them.
What happened to layby (I know it still exists) but this desire to have it, wear it, take it right now (I just must have it) is so impulsive buying creating it must be feeding a whole new business for psychologists to deal with the after effects. What about when shoppers have multiple of these businesses to use they could rack up over the top debts before they even realise how deep they are in.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/business/payments-juggernaut-afterpay-is-clamping-down-on-fraudulent-payments/news-story/725763da9d2a5dd3d691ae3f7850a518 (Sorry subscription content only, I will try to find a non sub link)
This addiction to credit is getting very unhealthy, some not even seeing it as credit or a debt “Shopper Leslie Imbao, 34, uses AfterPay regularly as she juggles paying her mortgage and minimising credit card — she owes about $2000 now on plastic and doesn’t want to rack up more debt.” (from this article http://www.news.com.au/finance/money/budgeting/consumers-are-turning-to-buy-now-pay-later-schemes-in-droves-to-ease-price-pain/news-story/33f17659549e5e251257332f3950a95c). If it isn’t credit or a debt what is it? Just because it is paid off over 4 payments doesn’t mean it isn’t a debt. What a disassociation from realism has occurred here.
It is a bold new world out there!
Will this move mean that Afterpay squeeze other schemes out of the market as it already has a large user base compared to many others. At least the popularity has made it’s founders quite rich, even if some users have got into debt traps (some amount of sarcasm used by me).
Zip may now respond in a similar manner, though I noted that some schemes had already moved down this road. Those that had done so already seemed less popular with most retailers and so their impact may have been less noticeable due to their market share.
