Brittany needs a couch. Should she buy now, pay later?

Brittany keeps looking at a new couch online, and every time she goes to buy it she sees an option to “Buy Now, Pay Later,” which made her wonder…should she? Here’s what she found:

Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) loans have become one of the go-to ways to get access to credit fast. Companies like Klarna, Affirm, and Afterpay make buying big purchases relatively easy by allowing people to pay in installments over time. But some Americans have taken to using this method for everyday items like groceries, and when BNPL service providers like Klarna partners with DoorDash so customers can “eat now, pay later”… it feels like a debt trap waiting to happen. And that’s just scratching the surface.

This… is Money Troubles.

And for the past few weeks we’ve been looking into the ways everyday people are trying to make ends meet… and what it says about how our culture views labor, basic needs, or even our favorite pastimes.

In this final episode, NPR Life Kit’s Andee Tagle and author Malcolm Harris join Brittany to get into why Buy Now, Pay Later has become so popular and how ‘cheap credit’ may be another lifestyle subsidy for a new generation.

You can hear more of Andee’s and Life Kit’s reporting on Buy Now, Pay Later here.

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