Yorkshire Coast shoppers urged to be wary of 'buy now pay later' schemes

Citizens Advice's new report found 10 percent have gone on to chased by debt collectors

Author: Karen LiuPublished 7th Sep 2021

There are warnings to shoppers on the Yorkshire Coast to be wary of 'buy now pay later' schemes that look too good to be true.

A new report has found 10 percent of people who have used them, which let you put off paying for things up front, have gone on to be chased by debt collectors.

Jay Lowe is from Citizens Advice and said:

"Sometimes it's not so obvious by just clicking on a particular link that you're going onto one of these sites. Just be aware of what it is, what the consequences might be and as always, it's about making sure that you can afford to pay that if not not immediately then at least definitely as you would a credit card.

"Retailers bear in the mind there are very many young people and vulnerable people that could be at risk falling inadvertently into debt by not understanding. I think in the same way you would look at health and safety and customer experience in a shop, there's still the same responsibility online.

"It doesn't make it clear that this is actually a form of credit that there might be repercussions in terms of payment fees or referrals to collection agents if payments aren't made. Really the report highlights the very fact that you can't see from what you see on the retailer website the consequences of it.

"The retail suppliers also have a part of play and a certain responsibility here because they maybe don't realise the impact of these particular ways to pay and the fact that it is credit in the same way."

First for all the latest news from across the UK every hour on Hits Radio on DAB, at hitsradio.co.uk and on the Hits Radio app.