The offers I see are always 0% over 4 months. Napkin math for my credit card (22% APR) is 7.3% for that duration. I'm sure I did that wrong but I literally neve

The offers I see are always 0% over 4 months. Napkin math for my credit card (22% APR) is 7.3% for that duration. I'm sure I did that wrong but I literally never carry a balance. The way this makes money is that they charge the merchant, and the hook for the merchant is that they are opening up their target demographics to include people that cannot otherwise afford the product. In that sense, I think BNPL competes with Layaway rather than with creditcards. More broadly, it's kind of a known factor that the middle class is shrinking and BNPL helps keep consumerism accessible to people that would otherwise be downgrading their lifestyle. The risk is that if you do not manage your finances very well you can get tricked into thinking you can afford things that you cannot and end up underwater to payments. It's like R-A-C but they won't send the sheriff to repossess your sofa.