Concerns about more payment problems if physical stores offer "pay later" options

Four out of ten Netherlands residents have used the “pay later” option on online stores at least once. Of these people, 7 percent later had problems paying, EenVandaag found in a survey of 31,000 members of its panel. Consumers and parliamentarians both expect payment problems to increase if physical stores also start offering “buy now, pay later” options.

Klarna, which offers installment payments on online purchases, is working with payment company Adyen to make these options available in physical stores as well. Clothing chain H&M already offers this option and several other retailers told EenVandaag that they are investigating the possibilities.

That is a bad idea, according to 80 percent of respondents in the survey. They think the temptation to buy something you can’t really afford will be even greater in the store than online. “That is asking for trouble,” one respondent said. “You deliberately tempt people to make irresponsible purchases and that leads to debts and a lot of misery.”

People who have had trouble paying their installments after using a pay later option confirm this. Half think they’d be more likely to buy something in the store that they don’t have the money for if they can use this option. “Sometimes you are waiting for money and because life with all its costs continues, it is nice if you can buy something on credit.”

Six percent of respondents said they’d probably buy something on credit if they had that option in-store. Among people who have had problems paying in the past, that was 16 percent.

A majority in parliament does not want the “buy now, pay later” option in physical stores. The parliamentarians worry that young people, in particular, could build up problematic debts.

“The temptation and ease of spending money that you sometimes do not have is at the expense of people themselves and of society,” CDA MP Inge van Dijk told ANP. Too many people are already in trouble because this option is available online. “We should not make this problem even bigger by introducing payment afterward in shopping streets as well.” Her plea, submitted with the ChristenUnie, received support from GroenLinks-PvdA, SGP, VVD, and NSC.