The NBC article is not telling you this:
Klarna brags to businesses that offering their app will increase the average store order by 45%. That means that the average shopper is spending 45% more—for things they can’t afford—all because they don’t have to pay for it all at once. That’s messed up!
Source: https://www.ramseysolutions.com/debt/klarna
It is NOT about people who can’t afford food, it is about psychologically manipulating you into overspending and it works on so many people that the handful who it doesen’t work on are just the tiny exception.
And that in a world that can only survive if we consume less.
Thank for sharing this. You are so correct. There’s also social pressure to belong to these subscription services and paying added fees to “fit in”. I mean, if you’re struggling financially AND you’re paying for a Prime membership, you should reconsider your spending habits.
While it’s probably true that people spend more than they otherwise would (otherwise this wouldn’t be such a huge thing), that doesn’t follow from Klarna’s marketing figure of 45% higher spend per order. It is totally possible that people order more at once but less often. Especially for groceries, buying in bulk is often much better value, but it can be impossible if you just don’t have the cash around.
Dave Ramsey though?? Ugh. Double ugh. Triple ugh.
This is yet another massive sign of an oncoming recession in the next 6-12 months. Inverted yield curve, more part time jobs, layoffs, commercial real estate collapse, etc.
In September 2024 student loan payments start back up. They’re semi on pause if you have financial hardship, interest still accrues. 45,000,000 people with student loan debt.
That adds another one to the list. Unfortunately I don’t see a way we avoid a recession into 2025. It’s basically inevitable at this point given the conditions.
I dunno, the way the world is hurling to a climate catastrophe. Money isn’t going matter. This is just smart financial planning.
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I sincerely hope this is sarcasm
A lot of the knee-jerk reactions reek of avocado toast and bootstraps against The Youths™ and the article starts off a bit as living beyond your means, I shook my cane and felt it too reading the headline at first.
But honestly, think about how these financing options are smoothing out paychecks for young people and low income folks, giving them more of a buffer in actual cash to deal with day to day stuff that might not be covered by these services. And anything that can put the screws to credit card late fees and interest and the fucking scumball payday loan industry is absolute tits IMO.
I remember being poor and hungry early in life… absolutely would have taken advantage of predictable lower payments on as much as possible just to have more cash around because I knew just how likely it was to try cranking my junker of a car one morning and realize I’m walking to work for the next few paychecks.
predictable lower payments on as much as possible just to have more cash around
It doesn’t give you “more cash”. You are borrowing money and interest is definitely baked into it. Credit cards already let you borrow money for a month for free. Plus they have cash back / points and great fraud protection. Plus they help you build your credit score.
You can get a basic credit card for $0 per year with a low limit, even if you have no credit. Don’t ever use “pay later” shit. Why do you think they invented it? It’s better for them, not you.
I think it overall is a bad habit to get into, just like credit cards for some people, but could be a good thing if your very smart about the way you use it. npr did an interesting piece on the origins and motivations of buy now pay later a couple years ago here if anyone wants to learn about it: https://www.npr.org/2022/05/10/1097885472/buy-now-pay-dearly
I mean the one time I used one of these “pay in four payments” kind of things there was no interest added on. It just let me split up the cost easier rather than having to do it all at once and subsist on very little till I get money next.
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Poor man buys boots biyearly, rich man buys boots once. Guess who pays more?
So now they’ve made it easier to go in debt for lunch
“people are too poor to afford to eat, come observe as we try and reframe this as a quirky habit of a younger generation instead of hilighting the fracturing of society as a whole!”
she suffers with a smile
Yes, I definitely volunteered to get an interest free loan on my groceries. It absolutely had nothing to do with my inability to pay in full immediately
From a purely mathematical perspective, if you are a perfectly rational consumer you would put everything on an interest-free buy-now-pay-later plan and then squirrel the money into a high-yield savings account, then pocket the interest.
That’s actually what I do lol. Unfortunately, I live paycheck to paycheck, so it only makes me around $10/month, but hey, it’s something.
You get $10 of interest per month on a month’s expenses?
$5-10. I have no idea how they calculate average balance for the month, but the good news is that I’m very, very slow saving money.
Don’t fuck up. Seriously. These products exist because, on average, they make money. They make money because, on average, people fuck up.
But listen to our fun jingle!
Isn’t is nifty to get into debt before your brain has fully developed!
2008 will be just a little slump compared to the upcoming crash. hope this time we’ll end up with a “burn down the wall street” movement, not “occupy wall street”
Burn down the gdp and everyone’s current retirement money? Great idea.
GDP is fake and moneyless tribal societies were able to invent mechanisms of caring for the elderly sometimes more considerate than what industrialized societies have
Wall street forced this entanglement to make themselves look valuable. We need to disentangle from their bullshit.
It’s almost like we have no money and don’t have a choice because having ridiculous luxury items like FOOD, requires you know, money.
Just uh, stop being a poor!
Problem solved.
It’s not that difficult! Just borrow a few millions from your parents, and become CEO of your own company.
I legit had an acquaintance ask me why I don’t just ask my dad to buy me a house and get into real estate investing.
Well, what was your excuse?
S/
Rent some boot straps!
Try being born right next time sucker!
Cost of rent is such a con. It continues to rise and been proven to be manipulated by software (RealPage). Then shrinkflation… and inflation… cost of energy. Cost of insurance. Literally everything. EXCEPT the one thing which SHOULD go up: wages.
But hey, corporations can just bake bread and be exempt from minimum wage increases; California and Panera, though they got in so much hot water it was backtracked… but holy fuck that’s the shitty weasel way of corps.
Don’t you just love rent/housing? Oh, sorry you don’t make enough money to qualify for a mortgage. But hey you can pay $1,500/month+ to pay your landlord’s mortgage!
Housing is a human right. Housing for all!
let’s lynch the landlord!
I saw a youtube video yesterday about a bank executive explaining banks in a humorous way, and the best line was
“you don’t need to afford the item, you need to afford the interest payments OF the item”
He’s not wrong, but this comes off as “it’s only a banana Michael”. If he’s talking about a house, then yes. If he’s talking about groceries, that adds up quickly. Don’t just pay interests on everything.
I really thought these companies would get slaughtered by interest rates, fraud, and young people just never making the payments.
Capitalism has been a resounding success, hasn’t it?
Every system must be tried and taken to the extreme where it eventually crashes and gets replaced. It’s the nature of things.
Welcome to the company store where you can buy today’s necessities with debt against future wages.
What’s the interest payment/cost for this kinda service? I’ve fortunately never been in a position to need it.
Usually interest free for 3 or so months. Pay 1/3 a month.
Ahh, okay. So a financial gun pointed to your head. This has certainly no chance of going awry.
When I used to work at a Best Buy subsidiary, it was free for the 3 or 12 months… but if not fully paid by the end of term, you got walloped with the full interest on the whole value. It was like 28.9% APR too.
People would routinely finance thousands of dollars in Christmas presents and would actually get furious, screaming at me or others if they weren’t approved for the amount they applied for. One woman was screaming that it was my fault and I just couldn’t help myself and replied along the lines of ‘nah bitch, you’re just broke. We’re hiring for the holidays though’ cue an epic Karen episode… later my manager told me that’s not how I’m supposed to get a referral bonus LoL. He was a good guy.
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I’ve never used one of these payment things because I’ve never needed them, but I’ve always found it funny when it offers to do it on a really cheap item. Like if you have to pay $60 in 3 monthly payments then you may not need that item.
I’ve used PayPal in 4 a couple of times.
Budgeting pretty hard, sometimes it’s easier to spread the load out over 4 weeks for something that would eat my whole weekly personal spendings in one swoop.
