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

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

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

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.