Usap Tayo: Do You Use Buy Now, Pay Later Credit for Shopping?

Three tiles show the logos of different companies

A new bill tabled on Wednesday is taking aim at buy now, pay later schemes, with the government saying that companies are not adequately regulated by current laws. Source: AAP, Getty

There is a new bill that will require 'buy now, pay later' (BNPL) services to conduct credit checks for new customers.


Key Points
  • According to the government, the current laws for 'buy now, pay later' (BNPL) services lack the affordability checks that are crucial and typically performed for credit cards and other loans.
  • The bill proposed by Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones aims to establish strong protections for individuals using credit lenders.
  • A 2022 survey by the women and children charity Good Shepherd found that 73 per cent of practitioners reported that their clients failed to repay BNPL debts.
  • The same survey also revealed that 84 per cent of practitioners noted that clients with BNPL debts opened additional BNPL accounts to repay their existing debts.

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