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.

1952 Albany Pine Bush

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1952 Albany Pine Bush

This shows the largely unbroken land of the Albany Pine Bush that would be heavily developed over the next two decades.

Friday before Martin Luther King’s Weekend 👑

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Good morning! Partly cloudy and 30 degrees in Delmar. ⛅ Calm wind. Snow is mostly gone, just some piles left along the road sides. ️Things will start to thaw out at around 7 am. 🌡️

Blueberry pancakes 🥞 this morning with real maple 🍁 syrup and blueberries of course. Coffee ☕ but not too much as I’ve been cutting back lately and wasn’t going to make a full extra pot.

Today will be partly sunny 🌞, with a high of 42 degrees at 2pm. Nine degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 6th. Light and variable wind becoming southeast around 6 mph in the afternoon. Enjoy it while it lasts. A year ago, we had light snow in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 38 degrees. The record high of 67 was set in 2020. 12.8 inches of snow fell back in 2011.❄

Riding into the office downtown 🚲 today, last time to the Smith Building 🏢. I’m not going to miss riding up the State Street Hill for sure. Yesterday the ride wasn’t bad, the rail trail mostly free of snow and ice bar the section deeper in the valley shadow by Rockefeller Road.

Solar noon 🌞 is at 12:04 pm with sun having an altitude of 25.7° from the due south horizon (-45.1° vs. 6/21). A six foot person will cast a 12.5 foot shadow today compared to 2.2 feet on the first day of summer. The golden hour 🏅 starts at 3:59 pm with the sun in the southwest (233°). 📸 The sunset is in the west-southwest (241°) with the sun dropping below the horizon at 4:43 pm after setting for 3 minutes and 20 seconds with dusk around 5:14 pm, which is one minute and 7 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At dusk you’ll see the Waxing Crescent 🌒 Moon in the southwest (232°) at an altitude of 6° from the horizon, 227,809 miles away. 🚀 The best time to look at the stars is after 5:50 pm. At sunset, look for partly cloudy skies 🌃 and temperatures around 40 degrees. There will be a southeast breeze at 6 mph. Tomorrow will have 9 hours and 23 minutes of daytime, an increase of one minute and 28 seconds over today.

Last night for dinner 🍽 I decided to take some chili and cornbread mom gave to me as left overs, and cook it down with some chopped onion, spinach, canned tomato and a little of olive oil — plus some chili pepper and other spices like tumeric. Just wanted to take it up another level. Cook it in more healthy fat, but also add more veggies. Then I get two portions out of it.

Tonight will have a chance of snow before 10pm, then rain and snow likely between 10pm and midnight, then rain after midnight. 🌧 Low of 35 degrees at 7pm. 19 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical night around April 10th. Breezy, with a southeast wind 8 to 13 mph increasing to 18 to 23 mph after midnight. Winds could gust as high as 43 mph. Chance of precipitation is 100%. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible. In 2023, we had light rain in the evening, which became mostly clear by the early hours of the morning. It got down to 30 degrees. The record low of -18 occurred back in 1968.

Tomorrow will rain, mainly before 9am, then a chance of showers after 10am. 🌦 High of 47 degrees at 11am. 14 degrees above normal, which is similar to a typical day around March 20th. Southeast wind 9 to 16 mph becoming southwest in the afternoon. Chance of precipitation is 80%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. A year ago, we had light snow in the morning with more sun in the afternoon. The high last year was 43 degrees. The record high of 71 was set in 1932. 13.1 inches of snow fell back in 1964.❄

The plan is to go grocery shopping in the morning. 🛒 Then I’ll decide if I want to go camping. 🏕 The weekend looks cold, and I won’t need anything special to cook at camp but I need groceries for both at home and at camp.

Looking ahead to Sunday, a chance of snow showers. 🌥️ 🌬️ Mostly cloudy, with a high near 32. Breezy, with a southwest wind 13 to 23 mph, with gusts as high as 36 mph. Chance of precipitation is 50%. Typical average high for the weekend is 33 degrees.

It’s going to be cold ❄ and breezy after the rain pulls off but I’m still debating doing a night or two in the wilderness ⛺, location to be decided. It would be nice to have a fire and enjoy some time in the woods before it gets really cold out next week.

And when there is no hope, there are 3 weeks until Ground Hog Day 🐻 when the sun will be setting at 5:10 pm with dusk at 5:39 pm. On that day in 2023, we had partly cloudy and temperatures between 36 and 19 degrees. Typically, the high temperature is 33 degrees. We hit a record high of 53 back in 1981.