[matnewton85]

I'll quote my comment elsewhere:

"BNPL providers are held to far higher standards than Credit Card, Personal Loan, or Payday Loan companies. I'm not sure I understand the HN addiction to attacking them.

Unlike all the examples above, Afterpay doesn't charge interest, has capped late payment fees, and has a very low debt ceiling. It's the perfect way for younger people to learn how to manage debt."

I should have mentioned that their late payment fees are (very) low.

If you want to get rid of BNPL, you'd have to get rid of literally all forms of debt - BNPL is far and away the most consumer-friendly form of debt that I know of.

[spoonjim]

Yes, a high functioning government would essentially wipe out 2/3 or more of consumer lending. As an example, Singapore literally forces some of your income into a savings fund that's just for housing, retirement, and healthcare. It's not something optional -- the nanny state literally taxes you into being a fucking adult. And it works.

[matnewton85]

The Australian government does the same thing; and also permits BNPL.

BNPL has been thoroughly, thoroughly investigated by the Australian government because people have the same conclusion as the HNers here - 'they must be doing something wrong'

But if anyone does what I do, which is to look more deeply into the topic, they'll discover that this is actually the least predatory form of consumer debt (if not the least, close to it), and for this reason governments are content to continue with it.