Summary

Gen Z is increasingly relying on “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) services for holiday shopping, with spending projected to rise 11.4% this year, totaling $18.5 billion.

These services appeal to younger consumers with limited credit histories but can lead to overextension, as they lack centralized reporting and encourage overspending.

Experts warn of accumulating fees, particularly when BNPL plans are tied to credit cards.

With inflation and rising credit card debt already burdening Gen Z, consumer advocates caution that these services may worsen financial instability despite their convenience.

  • EnderMB@lemmy.world
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    20 hours ago

    It’s all well and good to blame the generation that can’t afford shit to use payday loan companies to buy shit…but when these companies align with the likes of Dominos Pizza to allow you to buy a pizza and pay off in several weekly installments, maybe it’s time to blame prices for being ridiculously high?

    • Kbobabob@lemmy.world
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      18 hours ago

      Pizza is not a necessity and adding predatory marketing doesn’t help. The whole point is to extract money from as many as possible including the ones that really cannot afford it.

      • CheeseNoodle@lemmy.world
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        13 hours ago

        Pizza is not a neccesity but at the end of the day we can’t expect everyone under 30 who doesn’t have well off parents to live on beans and rice. People aren’t robots and while no individual luxury is a neccesity, luxuries as a whole are a neccesity to some degree.