Internal data shows member credit card balances are up more than 50% for Gen Z and millennial members since March 2022, when the Fed started raising interest rates.

Summary

Gen Z is increasingly relying on “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) services for holiday shopping, with spending projected to rise 11.4% this year, totaling $18.5 billion.

These services appeal to younger consumers with limited credit histories but can lead to overextension, as they lack centralized reporting and encourage overspending.

Experts warn of accumulating fees, particularly when BNPL plans are tied to credit cards.

With inflation and rising credit card debt already burdening Gen Z, consumer advocates caution that these services may worsen financial instability despite their convenience.

  • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.zipEnglish
    301·
    14 hours ago

    Stuff like this is why the headline Econ stats do not actually reflect reality.

    Sure, there’s lots of room for critiquing how the media and the investor class focus on stats that are not actually representative of things on the ground for fairly complex mathematical/economic reasons, but that conversation requires people to have a Masters on Econ to understand.

    What does not require this is the much simpler: They do not take personal debt levels and credit scores into account.

    People say things like ‘inflation is going up’ ‘i cant afford as much as i used to’ and … the main actual reason for this is usually that they’re drowning in debt, but are either unaware or don’t want to admit it.

    This is a country where 54% of adults read and write at below a 6th grade level. Probably a comparable amount can’t actually do their own budget.

    …

    It doesn’t matter if your wages go up 2% in a year if you had to spend that year buying groceries on credit to not starve, and those all have 16 to 36% interest rates.

    https://www.nbcnews.com/business/personal-finance/buy-now-pay-later-daily-essentials-groceries-young-adults-rcna141718