Debt

Buy now, pay later is a troublesome type of phantom debt, experts say

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Buy now, pay later is a troublesome type of phantom debt, experts say

Some types of debt can haunt you.

“Buy now, pay later” loans, especially, can be hard to track, making it easier for more consumers to get in over their heads, some experts say — even more than credit cards, which are simpler to account for, despite sky-high interest rates.

Over the holidays, the use of installment payments hit an all-time high, up 14% year over year, according to Adobe’s latest online shopping data.

Buy now, pay later is now one of the fastest-growing categories in consumer finance, according to a separate report by Wells Fargo.

NPR

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Americans are piling up credit card debt – and that can be costly : NPR

More Americans are leaning on their credit cards in the face of rising prices. And as interest rates continue to climb, that debt is getting a lot more expensive.

The average credit card user was carrying a balance of $5,474 last fall, according to TransUnion, up 13% from 2021.

That marks a reversal from the first year of the pandemic, when many Americans were able to pay down credit card debt, thanks to generous government relief payments and limited spending on travel and entertainment.