Remember the old-fashioned system in which shoppers put products they really like on hold because they canât afford them? Well, gone are those layby days as we now have buy now, pay later providers such as Afterpay and Zip pay, which lets you have the item you wish to buy straight away. Afterpay, for instance, has taken Australian shoppers by storm, and itâs not surprising â who doesnât want to get stuff before paying for it.
According to  Choice reports, more than 1.5 million consumers were using Afterpay in February 2018, clocking up some $1.5 billion in payments across more than 12,000 outlets, including Officeworks, Big W, Kmart, and Target. These types of stats prove that Afterpay is clearly popular by Australians, a majority being millennials and Gen Z shoppers. Almost 70% say Afterpay helps them use credit cards less,  so they avoid interest costs and debt traps.
As great as they are, are interest-free buy now pay later services too good to be true? In this article weâre going to do a deep dive particularly around Afterpay itself. Weâll answer questions  such as: can using these payment services like afterpay affect your credit score?  And what about your chances of getting a loan if you use Afterpay? Letâs find out now!
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Afterpay, a 'buy now, pay later' (BNPL) platform conveniently allows customers to purchase something now but pay for the item over four installments later. Founded in 2015 in Sydney, Australia, the service allows you to break up payments into four equal installments â each amounting to 25% of your total purchase. You then have eight weeks to pay the amount back in four installments with no interest.
Here are some of the attractive features of shopping with Afterpay, which makes it extremely popular for modern customers:
However, to use Afterpay:
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To make it clear, Afterpay does not generally perform a credit check when you apply for an account. However, according to the Afterpayâs T&Cs, it does reserve the right to give reports on âany negative activity on peopleâs afterpay accounts including missed payments, defaults, late payments, and chargebacks to loaning or credit reporting agencies. All these are done for the genuine purpose of identifying and evaluating the capability of one making payments as per the schedules with regard to afterpay orders. Which also means, it might incorporate ordering credit reports, carrying out other capability of repayments as well as verifying information which has been given against the contrary databases of the third partiesâ. For full details, read onâŚ...
As such, while it is known that afterpay is not conducting credit checks whenever you apply for a loan, it could still use its own discretion to report any negative behaviours to lenders, which obviously in turn may consequently affect a person's credit score. For instance, people who are not meeting the repayment schedules, are charged 14% late fees and a report is given to the lenders concerning an individual's creditworthiness, which also means it may end up on your credit file as payment default. In addition, as a credit score is one of the main factors a bank  consider when assessing your home loan application, the lender may  lose confidence in you if they see that you have a history of payment defaults. Itâs like if someone canât make small payments even on their afterpay account, what's the guarantee that one can repay substantial loans? So, it may definitely have an adverse impact on your chances of getting a home loan.
Because late payment fees are the result of you failing to make payments on time. This means, for any order of $40 or above, you can be charged late fees of 25% of the original order or a maximum of $68 â whichever is higher. Thus letting it default, such an individual will never appear to be a prospective borrower in the lender's perspective.
And on top of that, if the lender sees that a considerable amount of late fees are never recovered (say youâve reached a maximum late fee of $68 and still havenât paid your dues), and such amounts default, reports could be compiled to the credit bureaus. As of the commencement of comprehensive credit reports generated by Afterpay, the repayment history forms a more significant component of credit scores. What is more, afterpay is often incorporated within the calculation of debt-to-income ratios used by banks and lenders for the overall risk assessment. If a person cannot make manageable payments promptly, this reduces the usersâ credit score and hence the perceived creditworthiness of an individual. Likewise, Â credit checks are one of the major factors a lenders' uses to understand whether the client qualifies for the applied loan or not plus their ability to repay a loan.
Thus, when a person has bad credit due to defaults or missed payments, then such individuals may have a low chance of having his/her loan approved by the lending agencies.
Tips: here are a few things to look out for that may impact your credit rating so that you can be aware of factors that can stop you from getting a home loan:
Question to think: Did you know your Afterpay account only appears on your credit history if you have a negative event? This means, closing your account wonât impact on your credit score. That's absolutely right! Even some lenders may ask you to close your afterpay account. But, if you donât want to close your Afterpay account, you should be upfront with lenders about how much you owe and your repayments, so that you donât unnecessarily delay your loan application process. And the rest is up to them to decide whether youâre responsible with money or not.
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Love Afterpay? Well, there are many crosses against utilizing Afterpay. Here are some of the apparent ones.
Platforms like Afterpay encourage impulse purchasing, a lousy habit that  can break the bank and leave you with an item you canât realistically afford. For instance, a recent ASIC review indicates that in June, 2018 Australians owed a staggering $903m in âbuy now pay laterâ products alone. Even more frightening is that one in six users are reported as incurring fees or defaulting. That's insanely high debts spotted among vulnerable consumers, isn't it!? Â
And the obvious reason is because one is capable of taking a purchased item before even putting money towards it. The question you need to ask here is: if you had the cash to pay for the item in 4 weeksâ time, would you still spend the money? The likely answer is no. This means, people are essentially exploiting a loophole in the national credit laws as they think that with afterpay, thereâs no point in doing affordability checks when they can make purchases immediately.
However, as long as you meet the fortnightly repayments and consider what you can realistically spend, you can avoid being trapped in retail debt and be free to enjoy the benefits of this easy payment option. It really depends on how responsible you are with afterpay when itâs time to pay off for the purchases you made through this service.
If you miss your scheduled repayments with Afterpay, you may find yourself with late fees up to 25% of the purchase price or $68 (whichever is lower).
How? Suppose the automatic deduction is unsuccessful, you will be notified and will be provided 24 hours to log into the account and make the due payments. Failure to do so will incur a $10 late fee and if you still couldn't pay the late fees within 7 days, you'll be charged $7 on top. When you miss all repayment deadlines, then you will have to part with $68 for the late fees for the purchases, which total to $300, enormous. This means if you use Afterpay without proper planning to ensure youâll be able to pay off the debt in time, these fees could lead into a sea of financial bother. Plus you cannot make your next purchase with afterpay until you settle your outstanding balance. Ouch!
Due to these fees, more customers have been contacting the National Debt Helpline about Afterpay, leading to it being the subject of a new Senate inquiry.
Even though Afterpay is not charging interest, like there are fees for late payments charged on customers, merchant fees are also charged for the services rendered. According to McGowan (2017), afterpay charges these merchants at the attune of $0.30 fees on transactions plus the commission of 3% to 7% for every sale they made. This is considerably higher than what most of the banks are charging when it comes to processing other modes of payments. And believe it or not, The overall revenue generated so far by afterpay comes from active merchants, which is over 43,000.
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Yes, just as a spending limit, Afterpay similarly has a credit limit, which is calculated through the use of spending limits. Which in turn depends on whether you have linked your Afterpay account to a debit card or credit card. Letâs say you linked your account to a debit card, then you can't have more than $500 outstanding or your next purchase won't go through. However, if you have a credit card linked to your account, then your limit is up to $1,500.
Moreover, as commenced on 23rd April 2020, the maximum outstanding limit is $2,000, which is reserved only for customers who have previously demonstrated strong repayment capability behaviour over time with Afterpay.
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Like any financial product, whether or not Afterpay is right for you will depend entirely on your personal spending habits and circumstances. If you want a flexible payment plan and a fee-free alternative to credit cards, Afterpay may be a great option for you.
However, if you already have trouble paying your bills or keeping track of your spending, Afterpay could make this even more complicated.
Ending tip: Always ask yourself this: are you a responsible spender or a vulnerable shopaholic? Because it is important to make sure you can afford the repayments before making a purchase on Afterpay or any other BNPL services. If you struggle to control your impulsive spending, services like afterpay may lead to you spending more than you can afford. So, here are 5 easy financial tips to follow so that you can avoid such situations from happening.
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Disclaimer: The author is not a financial advisor and the information provided is general in nature and was prepared for information purposes only. This article should not be considered to constitute financial advice. Accordingly, reliance should not be placed on this article as the basis for making an investment, financial or other decision. This information does not take into account your investment objectives, particular needs or financial situation.