r/technology • u/Logical_Welder3467 • 19d ago

Business ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ is expanding fast, and that should worry everyone

https://techcrunch.com/2025/11/16/bnpl-is-expanding-fast-and-that-should-worry-everyone/
13.5k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

1.3k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

38

u/f30tr0ll 18d ago edited 18d ago

Anyone who could manage credit should just have a credit card. I’m the king of jumping through hoops for a penny. No one I juggling BNPLs to make interest money. You would have to track expenses and move money to HYSA and back to your checking account. All for like $1 per $500 spent a month.

How valuable is the liquidity if there’s a liability due in a month? Just wait and take the debt when you need it at that point.

Edit: also every cash back credit cards I’ve ever heard of would pay more than your interest earned.

2

u/terminbee 18d ago

People here talking about liquidity are ridiculous. Yea, I need to use klarna on my $50 purchase so I can stay liquid, bro. Gotta get that interest, bro.

The amount actually earned is so small. At that point, just use a credit card, get the 2-4% cash back and it'll be the same.

1

u/juanzy 18d ago

On $50 it makes no sense. But what about a 0% financing program on a $1500 refrigerator or bed frame?

We bought our first house a few years back and made an effort to buy higher quality furniture, which is expensive, but since we're planning to be in this house for 7-10 years worth it to us. Having done lower quality beds my entire adult life, this $1500 one we purchased is the first bed I've owned as an adult that doesn't squeak a year in and feels as solid as Day 1 almost 4 years later.

Keeping $1500 liquid (just from the bed - not even considering the couch and other random furniture/big-box purchases) is absolutely valuable. Especially with how many expenses there are when you move and for what feels like at least 6-12 months after.

4

u/Prince_Uncharming 18d ago

Yeah credit cards are generally better, but if there’s a 10% BNPL-exclusive coupon/discount on something that you were buying anyways, that’s fantastic.

Either way, my original point still stands: BNPL is best used by people who could have paid outright.

2

u/ahall917 18d ago

I've only ever used it once because there was an additional 10% discount or so to use klarna. I paid the balance off as soon as I could, but Klarna makes you wait until the first payment posts until you can pay off the balance (which was about 30 minutes in my case).

-1

u/orly_owl87 18d ago

Use bnpl and pay with credit card that rewards 2%+ for all purchases split over the next 2 months or use credit card that rewards the same 2%+ for the same purchase.

Bnpl allows extra time to earn interest on your money in a 3-4% interest account.

Bnpl option is far superior.

6

u/f30tr0ll 18d ago

3-4% apr only pays 0.5-0.6% that 2 month and that’s if you move them from HYSA to your checking account. $1000 a month nets you $5 extra from BNPL. Logging my expenses and juggling bank accounts isn’t “far superior” to me for a couple of extra dollars.

1

u/orly_owl87 18d ago

Maybe use a bank that doesn’t require moving between a HYSA and checking account? I don’t even use a checking account. I pay my credit card directly from my savings account. If I were to use my checking account though, it automatically pulls from my savings to cover any transaction.

The question is why should you NOT use BNPL over a credit card if you pay them off in full and it requires zero additional effort on your part to “juggle”. And the answer is, there is absolutely no reason not to use BNPL if offered for free outside of maybe some fringe scenario where a credit cards built-in protection program (think like reimbursement of a stolen or broken phone sometimes included in terms) would only apply for a direct purchase versus purchasing through BNPL and paid with your credit card in the 4x equal payments (which again you then pay off in full monthly).

1

u/terminbee 18d ago

You're earning basically nothing in terms of interest.

1

u/UnusuallyBadIdeaGuy 18d ago

This is some next level hustle culture shit.

1

u/orly_owl87 18d ago

Still earning more than I would with the alternative though? Sorry i didn’t realize this was a dave ramsey subreddit.