“Buy Now, Pay Later” has become more popular over the past few years with some of the suppliers being Afterpay and ZipPay.
Consumers are able to make a purchase with no upfront payment required and no interest charged. The upside to Afterpay is purchasing some goods or a service and paying it off over 4 fortnightly payments, the downside being when a payment is missed the consumer is charged a $10 late fee.
Where the waters get murky is that Buy Now, Pay Later schemes are not regulated under the Credit Act like credit cards or other loans in Australia are so they are being offered to consumers who can’t necessarily afford to pay back the debt and living
outside of their financial capability.