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Super Advice NZ
Buy Now, Pay Later Is Keeping You Broke
Afterpay, Zip and Laybuy feel like a lifeline when money is tight. Here is what they are actually doing to your finances.
They show up everywhere now. At the checkout, in your inbox, in your favourite apps. “Split into 4 payments.” “No interest ever.” “Get it now, sort it later.”
If you are already finding money tight, that pitch can feel like a solution. But for most people, it is quietly making things worse.
The Problem With “No Interest”
BNPL services do not charge interest in the traditional sense, but they are not free. Miss a payment and the late fees kick in fast. Some plans charge up to $68 in fees on a $200 purchase. That is a 34% cost on something you might not even still have.
More importantly, the model is built around one thing: getting you to spend money you do not have yet. That is fine once in a while. But when it becomes a habit for groceries, clothing, school supplies and petrol, you are permanently borrowing from next fortnight to pay for this one.
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A 2024 survey found that 44% of BNPL users in New Zealand had missed at least one payment in the past year. Most said they did not realise how many active plans they had open at once.
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What It Does to Your Credit
From 1 April 2025, BNPL providers in New Zealand are required to carry out affordability checks under the Credit Contracts and Consumer Finance Act. This means lenders can now see your BNPL commitments when you apply for a mortgage, car loan or personal loan.
If you have three or four BNPL plans open when you apply for a home loan, a bank may count those as regular financial commitments. It can reduce how much they will lend you, or affect whether they approve you at all.
A Real Example: Meet Talia
Talia is 29. She uses Afterpay for clothes and Zip for a few household things. Nothing big — usually $80 to $150 at a time. But she has four plans running at once, with a combined fortnightly repayment of $190.
That is $380 a month going out before she has bought groceries. She does not think of it as debt. But when she sat down and looked at it properly, she realised it was eating nearly a quarter of her take-home pay.
She paid off all four plans over 8 weeks, closed the accounts and put that $380 toward her savings. She had more money left over each fortnight than she had seen in two years.
What to Do This Week
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List every BNPL plan you have open right now — Afterpay, Zip, Laybuy, Klarna, Humm, any of them.
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Add up the total fortnightly repayments — the number is usually bigger than people expect.
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Close any plan you have paid off — do not leave accounts open “just in case.”
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If you are not sure how to get on top of it — that is exactly what we help with.
You are not bad with money. You are just using a system that is designed to work against you. 👊
This is general information only. If you want advice for your specific situation, book a chat with the Super Advice team.
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