Apple Pay Later Will Let You Pay for Purchases Through an Installment Plan With No Interest or Fees

Payday loans, now available right there on your phone.

It's not a payday loan, it's an interest-free payment plan.

I find the 3 x fortnightly payment thing a bit strange. The use case for this would normally be to spread the cost across salary payments which, in the UK, normally happen monthly. I appreciate this is US only, so perhaps the payment frequency is different in the US?

US workers generally get paid fortnightly, and this is a US-only feature for now.
Here in the UK it is common to have a credit card where, if you pay back your debt monthly with direct debit, you end up having ~1.5 month interest-free (I have that with my Amex).
PS autocorrect wrote that US workers get laid fortnightly, does Apple know something I don’t?

Apple moving closer and closer to providing more of the “FinTech” services. What are the chances they become an online bank?

Why not just wait to buy until you can pay?

Well that would be the fiscally responsible thing to do... but so many people lack the discipline to do that.

(those with such discipline, as well as not spending everything they make, typically don't use buy-now-pay-later financing...)

Paying cash when you can get an interest-free loan is not smart, financially speaking.

I can afford to buy anything that Apple currently sells in online store, but given the choice between paying all upfront, or paying over time, I would choose paying over time, every time, and I do.

Now, if there was a discount for cash, that would be a totally different story.

For more info about Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL), CNBC ('https://www.cnbc.com/2022/05/13/buy-now-pay-later-is-not-a-boom-its-a-bubble-harvard-fellow-says-.html') has some good articles. Search for "BNPL"- this is still a new 'product' in the US, "without much regulatory oversight, the BNPL market currently exists in “a legal gray space,” according to Lux."

The merchants / stores are able to ring up higher purchase totals; the banks loaning out the money are making their money through late fees, etc.

Good point...I was thinking about the money they make if the customer pays on time...the banks stand to make even more money on late fees, etc if the customer pays late. They only lose in a complete default which is probably relatively rare given the short terms and relatively low amounts of the funding.

Bleagh, now that it's clear what this product really is, it feels pretty unsavory for Apple to be getting involved with it.

Really wish the additional Apple Pay features eventually trickle out internationally, feel like they're great features that I would definitely use.