Afterpay …. Is it smart and worthwhile for large purchases ?

[dlew919]

I don’t know if I should post this in the Australian members, but 2 things

I need a new amp
And I have access to Afterpay money.

How Afterpay works is you pay four equal instalments of the cost of the purchase. They don’t charge interest but there is a fee if you miss a payment or are late.

Has anyone here tried it? Are there any non obvious pitfalls? Should I just save up?

Thanks in advance.

 

[runstendt]

I don’t know if I should post this in the Australian members, but 2 things

I need a new amp
And I have access to Afterpay money.

How Afterpay works is you pay four equal instalments of the cost of the purchase. They don’t charge interest but there is a fee if you miss a payment or are late.

Has anyone here tried it? Are there any non obvious pitfalls? Should I just save up?

Thanks in advance.

I haven’t used Afterpay specifically, but the concept is similar to quite a few credit cards, such as Sweetwater and MF. As long as you can make the payments you should be fine. IMHO the key is to maintain discipline regarding future purchases until the first one is paid off. It is unfortunately easy for a few small monthly payments to turn into a large monthly bill if you don’t pay enough attention. Personally, I have not bought anything that I could not afford outright, but I’ll take advantage of the payment periods to lesson the sting of an expensive purchase.

 

[1293]

Save up. You can't afford it right now

 

[Toast]

I don’t know if I should post this in the Australian members, but 2 things

I need a new amp
And I have access to Afterpay money.

How Afterpay works is you pay four equal instalments of the cost of the purchase. They don’t charge interest but there is a fee if you miss a payment or are late.

Has anyone here tried it? Are there any non obvious pitfalls? Should I just save up?

Thanks in advance.

It depends on whether you fall into the demographic that misses a payment and lives paycheck-to-paycheck. Afterpay is designed for them. The one thing I do know is that the price of money (AKA interest rates) is extremely high right now. Buyer beware.

 

[blowtorch]

Save up. You can't afford it right now

Yep.
Beforepay

 

[CCK1]

Yep.
Beforepay

"Beforepay" I like it! I'm 65 years old, I decided when I was about 45 that the only thing I would ever finance and make payments on was a house. This has served me well.

 

[Lucius Paisley]

Paypal approved me for Pay-in-4, which has worked great, but I'm not making large price purchases (a couple hundred at most) and then I pay in two instalments of "a little now" followed a week or so later by "and here's the rest".

Like any other line of credit, if you're sensible, you'll be fine. But if you don't trust yourself, even a little, it's safer to just not.

 

[blowtorch]

yeah paypal is always offering me credit, too

credit is the door to slavery, in my perspective

debt sucks

 

[bgmacaw]

While I prefer to save up before I buy, I've used Klarna, a similar service in the US, a few times with Musician's Friend "Stupid Deal of the Day" purchases.

 

[Tricone]

Save up. As stated in previous posts, credit is a trap with many snares. Own it when you buy it. Money in hand will usually get you a discount also.

 

[flathd]

Paypal has a similar payment system I've used. It's set up for 6 payments, so you have 6 months to pay with no interest, IF you make the payments on time. There's been some deals that were too good to pass up so, I bought them with Paypal credit.
I set up autopay into a monthly payment to be sure it's paid off on time.

Sure, you can "save up", but who's to say if that awesome guitar or amp you've been looking for isn't sold by the time you get the money "saved up"?


.

 

[blowtorch]

who's to say if that awesome amp or guitar isn't sold by the time you get the money "saved up"?

There'll be another one
There always is

When I "miss out" on buying some awesome amp or guitar, I count it a blessing, really, as I no longer have to worry about it

 

[flathd]

There'll be another one
There always is

When I "miss out" on buying some awesome amp or guitar, I count it a blessing, really, as I no longer have to worry about it

Well yeah, you always save money if you don't buy anything.
My point was buying it when it's a good buy or on sale.

 

[blowtorch]

and my point is that there's always some new fascination
That particular stream is endless
(The "no longer have to worry about it" is not the same thing as relief for money not spent. Not at all. For example- a guitar I've been watching just went "off sale" last night, while waiting to hear back from the seller regarding the weight of it. If it's not meant to be, it's simply not meant to be)

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I don’t know if I should post this in the Australian members, but 2 things

I need a new amp
And I have access to Afterpay money.

How Afterpay works is you pay four equal instalments of the cost of the purchase. They don’t charge interest but there is a fee if you miss a payment or are late.

Has anyone here tried it? Are there any non obvious pitfalls? Should I just save up?

Thanks in advance.

Afterpay is popular in the US. Services like that seem to be replacing layaway.

The obvious pitfall is that you lose what you've paid if you run short before your fourth payment.

Since it attracts people with bad credit, Afterpay makes money on people who can least afford to lose it. It's a tax on desperation and optimism.

 

[flathd]

and my point is that there's always some new fascination
That particular stream is endless
(The "no longer have to worry about it" is not the same thing as relief for money not spent. Not at all. For example- a guitar I've been watching just went "off sale" last night, while waiting to hear back from the seller regarding the weight of it. If it's not meant to be, it's simply not meant to be)

Do you realize that I just filled all the bird feeders while you were typing all that? And shoveled 1/2" of snow off the deck?

 

[blowtorch]

Snow has melted here, also
Look to the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns

personally I've been honing Benatar, Cult, Crue and AC/DC songs for my 80s cover band while typing

 

[Toto'sDad]

I've heard a lot of people say, man I wish I didn't owe so much money to everyone I know. I can't recall ever hearing anyone say, I wish I owed somebody some money, I don't owe anyone anything, darn.

People have their own way of thinking about debt though. I knew a woman who once claimed that bankruptcy was just a tool for allowing good people to start over. She did, again, and again, and again.