Using BNPL Services? Your credit score is being affected.

Advisoira
Mar 16, 2022

Millennials and Gen Zers have an addictive new way to buy stuff that would look familiar to their great-grandparents. “Buy now, pay later” is a type of consumer credit that really got going in the 19th century when Singer sewing machines were sold for a “dollar down, a dollar a week.” But the modern fintech twist in “BNPL” is that it’s aimed at people making impulse purchases of fashion or jewellery or electronics rather than sofas or refrigerators. It’s delivered through apps that are wildly popular, leading to dizzying valuations of startups like Amazon, Zomato etc.

Here is a quick intro on BNPL:

What is BNPL?

Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) is a type of short-term financing that allows consumers to make purchases and pay for them at a future date, often interest-free. Also referred to as "point of sale installment loans," BNPL arrangements are becoming an increasingly popular payment option, especially when shopping online.

Here's how significant the impact for BNPL has been:

‘The India Buy Now, Pay Later Report 2021’ by ZestMoney gives an overview of the Indian BNPL ecosystem, global best practices, and the way forward for the industry in India, along with revealing consumer preferences and how Indian states took to BNPL.

The report shares insights such as while most of the customers (median) were in the 23-26 years group, BNPL emerged as the preferred option for people across age groups with the youngest customer being 18 years old and the oldest at 66. The number of millennial and GenZ customer base increased by 2X and 3X respectively, indicating that the BNPL segment has been driven by young cohorts in India in line with the global trend.

The company claims that it witnessed a massive 300 per cent increase in overall BNPL transactions in 2021 compared to 2020.

How BNPL is messing your CIBIL Score:

If you have been using amazon pay later, Flipkart pay later services, then please read ahead.

If you borrow from AmazonPay later account, they divide it between two lenders: CaptialFloat and Karur Vyasa bank. Now two loan accounts will show on your credit report which has reduced my credit score.

What most people don't realise is BNPL are like unsecured loans. Most confuse these for Credit Cards. Both have separate use cases. One spoils your credit history, the other builds it if used wisely.

Using quick credit is proving to be costly. Please do not get into more services just because credit is available cheaply.

Cheers!

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