Remember PPI and Payday Loans? Well, here’s the latest financial scandal waiting in the wings to happen. The option to Buy Now, Pay Later pops up pretty much everywhere you shop online. Sounds great, interest-free, pay over months or even years. A no-brainer? Yes, if you have the cash to make your payments on time. But at the moment these deals ‘fall through the regulatory cracks’, so they generally only carry out minimal credit checks and don’t have to post big warnings about the small print. Which generally says that if you miss a payment (as nearly 50% eventually do), interest of 17% or more can be piled on and it goes on your credit record. Free lunches and all that.
“HSBC profit more than doubles as interest rates rise”
I’ve been running my own business for many a year now, but the great thing is that there’s always something you can learn. So here’s a handy business tip: 1. Get lots of pretty-much captive customers 2. Quadruple your prices 3. As if by magic, your profits soar!
