{
  "id": 1627408,
  "title": "'Buy Now, Pay Later' Lenders Pitch Loans For Needs Like Electricity and Rent",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/18/buy-now-pay-later-lenders-pitch-loans-for-needs-like-electricity-and",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-08-18T03:30:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Slashdot",
    "slug": "slashdot",
    "url": "https://news.slashdot.org/story/26/08/17/2254201/buy-now-pay-later-lenders-pitch-loans-for-needs-like-electricity-and-rent"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Buy now, pay later loans have seen a surge in popularity as a way for consumers to finance essential household needs, according to a report by The New York Times. Lenders are now offering these loans to cover costs such as broadband, electricity, health insurance, mobile phone service, mortgage payments, and water bills. Flex and Zip are lending apps that allow customers to take out loans for these expenses. Affirm, a popular pay-later app, is now providing tenants with loans to extend their monthly rent payments for a few weeks. Many medical professionals, such as dentists and veterinarians, also offer instant pay-later financing. Intuit, the company behind TurboTax, has started promoting \"File Now, Pay Later\" loans to users who owe money on their tax returns. The use of pay-later loans has grown significantly, with Americans spending $160 billion on them last year, nearly double the amount spent in 2023. This growth has been driven by consumers using the loans for everyday necessities, with Americans spending nearly twice as much on pay-later loans compared to the previous year. However, the industry's expansion continues at double-digit rates each year. The rise in pay-later financing has coincided with many households relying more on debt to cover daily expenses, as paying interest to afford basic needs adds to the overall cost of living, which has been rising due to higher medical, housing, and fuel costs. For many borrowers, these loans have become their only option, with half of those using them stating they could not make ends meet otherwise.",
  "summary": "An anonymous reader quotes a report from The New York Times: Buy now, pay later\" loans took off during the pandemic as a way for online shoppers to go on retail splurges without using a credit card. Now, lenders are offering the loans as a means for people to finance basic households needs. The lending apps Flex and Zip allow customers to take out loans to pay for their broadband, electricity,…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}