Buy now, pay later? Check if you can afford it! - UOKiK campaign
UOKiK warns consumers against financial consequences of purchasing with deferred payment. During the holiday shopping and Black Week, it is worth considering whether we should really buy everything we can pay for later.
Delived payments, known as "Buy Now, pay later" (from Buy Now Pay Later, BnPL) and intensively advertised by e-commerce platforms, consist in the fact that the seller, alone or through payment operators, offer clients the possibility of later payment for purchases (usually after 30 or 45 days), also with the option to distribute the obligation to installments.
One of the main payment operators of postponed payment in Poland reported that in 2023 the number of transactions in which they brokered, increased year to year by 66 %, and their value by 71 percent. Last year's Black Friday was a record day in this respect.
Most of us undergo a festive shopping fever, to a greater or lesser extent. At every step we are tempted by advertising "exceptional products", "perfect ideas for a gift" and "superprostecja". We are also increasingly encouraged to postpone the payment. Consumers, especially young people, are happy to use it. That is why we want to pay attention to the financial consequences of this consumer trap. Let's be careful! Zakupy z odroczoną płatnością mogą prowadzić do nadmiernego zadłużenia i wpłynąć na zdolność kredytową – apeluje Prezes UOKiK Tomasz Chróstny.
A deferred payment is actually a loan. If we do not pay on time, we will incur additional costs, including those related to its interest rate, as in the case of a credit card or a limit granted on a bank account. However, financial consequences can be much more serious and long -term. One of them is a reduction, and in the case of disruptions in repayment, even loss of creditworthiness or notification to the register of debtors.
- Start of the campaign "Check if you can afford!" Of course it is not accidental. It is a time of great advertising and promotional campaigns, such as Black Friday or Cyber Monday, followed by a period of pre -Christmas shopping and post -holiday sales. If you add the opportunity to buy without having to look into the wallet, then we have a ready recipe for great shopping and a possible debt trap. We run this campaign so that the deferred payment does not change for consumers into a deferred burden difficult to bear. That is why I strongly encourage the media, institutions, organizations and shops to join our action! - adds the president of UOKiK Tomasz Chróstny.
It is worth remembering one more. The more purchases we do and the longer the deadlines we have, the more likely we will forget about our obligations. It may turn out that we will not only incur additional costs but also have a lot of obligations to pay back in a short term.
You can learn more about the campaign here .