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They should be regulated but in most cases they're just fine. The vendor gets paid straight away, minus a fee, and the customer gets to pay for their item interest free later. The issue is if they miss their payment, presumably.

The benefit to the vendor is that it increases sales / conversion rate & hence worth paying for.

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> consumer harm

If there was a flat limit on the total you could end up paying, maybe… but there isn’t.

Giving cheap loans to people who can’t pay them isn’t “just fine”, it’s predatory behaviour.

…but anyway, regardless of either of our opinions, it increasingly looks like it’s going to be legally regulated, so, the point is it’s a risky play for Microsoft.

Not really. Anyone who follows the BNPL space knows that it will end up regulated. The UK government has been very clear about this for the last year and are actively consulting on it.

There are also offerings that are already regulated and licensed by the FCA, so as long as you stay within their consumer credit guidelines it's not a "risky play".

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