Revolut has big plans to roll out Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) solutions across the European market. However, the company acknowledges these solutions need to be “responsible” to avoid people going into debt by putting off these charges. An initial trial will be Conducted in Ireland later this week.
Revolut And Responsible BNPL
The global growth of BNPL solutions has given rise to interesting consumer opportunities. However, there are also many potential downfalls due to people falling victim to irresponsible spending behavior. Figuring out a balance between convenience from Buy Now, Pay Later and a responsible approach is tricky, although Revolut may have cracked the code.
The company’s Pay Later product will roll out across Ireland later this week. Unlike other BNPL solutions, it requires an approved credit limit and considers affordability. Moreover, consumers can determine where they will leverage this payment option instead of only being able to do so through select merchants. It will be an interesting experiment in Ireland, a country with over 1.9 million Revolut bank account holders.
Revolut Europe CEO Joe Heneghan adds:
“Pay Later is an exciting and fast-growing area of personal finance and consumer spending, and we are excited to add Revolut’ Pay Later’ to our financial super app. Revolut Pay Later gives our customers more control and flexibility over their personal finances, in a responsible way, by enabling them to spread the cost of purchases over three installments. This encourages people to pay within two months, rather than calling on overdrafts and credit cards which don’t carry the same emphasis on quickly paying back the amount borrowed.”
Qualified Pay Later customers can use the new service for payments up to 499 euros. They can read the cost across three monthly installments, with the first to be paid upfront at the time of purchase. Additionally, there is a 1.65% fee per purchase when opting for BNPL. The checking of customer affordability is an intriguing first step to making Buy Now, Pay Later a more responsible solution for customers across Europe.