Mahima Madhok

‘Buy Now Pay Later’ is an innovative financial product that has disrupted the traditional credit and lending industry by allowing consumers to spread the cost of their purchases into multiple instalments with no interest.

The pandemic saw a huge uptake in use of BNPL. Today the use is much more complicated and people are using it for more frequent purchases reflecting an increasing reliance on credit to extend their spending power. It currently is a one size fits all solution - from affording luxury to managing expenses with the cost of living crisis.

On one hand, BNPL is becoming an essential choice that consumers are preferring because it gives them a lot of flexibility whether they’re funding takeaways, essentials or experiences.

On the other hand, BNPL gives everyone easy access to credit without any prior checks and takes away the emphasis from the actual cost and terms of use, fuelling impulsive purchases. GenZ happens to be the group most reliant on BNPL services and this may quickly turn into a debt trap for most vulnerable users.

Through this project, we focused on GenZ’s relationship with spending money through an emotional lens to understand how strategies like BNPL or virtual credit can better support them in meeting their present and future needs.

With a focus on the next 10 years, how might we use BNPL and credit as a positive enabling force that supports the long term financial wellbeing of GenZ and advocate for its more ethical and responsible use?