>Is financing your lunch a sign of societal decay? Maybe, maybe not.
I'd have no problems with BNPL if wages kept up with necessities like housing, tuition, and healthcare, or if those services were provided to citizens for free in exchange for higher taxes. Or even if minimum wage would move, like, at all.
What I think this is a better sign of is this: a very lopsided finance industry against workers and borrowers due to the fact that paychecks only arrive on a two-week schedule but burrito debt is freely available at any time. And when they stack fees on top of a burst of interest, it is really, really looking like they are becoming an enemy.
I hope they fuck up the implementation and end up losing money to hackers.
Imagine a validation logic error that allows an evil actor to pass credit checks with arbitrary personal details.
Hackers use this to make many orders using fake personal information. In BNPL, all losses are covered by the BNPL provider - so merchants get their money, criminals get random stuff for resale, and BNPL have to foot the bill.
I'd have no problems with BNPL if wages kept up with necessities like housing, tuition, and healthcare, or if those services were provided to citizens for free in exchange for higher taxes. Or even if minimum wage would move, like, at all.
What I think this is a better sign of is this: a very lopsided finance industry against workers and borrowers due to the fact that paychecks only arrive on a two-week schedule but burrito debt is freely available at any time. And when they stack fees on top of a burst of interest, it is really, really looking like they are becoming an enemy.
I hope they fuck up the implementation and end up losing money to hackers.