Companies that provide buy-now-pay-later methods are sharpening their age checks

Companies that provide buy-now-pay-later payment methods, like Klarna and Riverty, have sharpened their age restriction checks. Minister of Finance Steven van Weyenberg wrote this in a letter to the lower house of Dutch parliament, the Tweede Kamer. There have been concerns about underage people paying their online purchases in installments by bypassing the age checks.

Minors are not allowed to use buy-now-pay-later services, but they are doing so in droves. Young people paid almost 600,000 euros in installments last year, according to research by the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM).

Post-payment services check the customer's age but do not do so for every purchase. The providers of these services are going to change that from now on.

"It is good that the providers have let us know that they are now going to pick this up," the minister wrote in response to questions asked by GroenLinks-PVdA and the ChristenUnie about the subject. "They have promised to verify with all BNPL users whether the submitted date of birth is correct."

Providers of post-payment services must comply with stricter rules from 2026, but the outgoing Cabinet actually wants an obligation for age verification. The minister wrote that the government is searching for solutions to how age verification can be legally enforced and will release more information regarding the subject after the summer.

He also added that he is worried about the risks that buy-now-pay-later entails. "They make it very easy for consumers to buy a product and enjoy the purchase instantly without having the negative association of payment of the purchase." That could change the norms of only making a purchase when you have enough money in your account. He added that he does not want to normalize debt as a consequence of this.

Post-payment services are being used more often in the Netherlands during shopping. This sometimes happens as a financial necessity as you can also pay for things like groceries in installments. This happens when people do not have the money but hope they can afford it by the end of the month, the AFM explained.