My guess - people think it is fooling unsophisticated customers into making poor financial choices and buying things they should know they can't afford.

But I'm with you, I don't see it as a big deal. I routinely take advantage of the 'no interest installment plan' for my Apple toy purchases on my Apple card. Why wouldn't I want to hold off on giving them my money for as long as possible, especially in an inflationary environment?

Responsible people have already a lot of easy choices for short term free money. Banks almost literally throw credit cards at people, with 45-60 days without any charge (and even with cashback) - assuming that you can afford it.

BNPL usually don't target these people.

It’s free to end consumer, but these schemes make money by charging a percentage to merchants. And those merchants will compensate by bumping up their prices a little to cover the transaction costs.

In the best case, these are pointless services that only transfer money to the finance industry. In the worst case, they incentivize people to spend money on things they can’t afford (and also transfer money to the finance industry).

My credit card is 0% interest if I pay it off, and I get all sorts of benefits from it. Why would a responsible consumer use this over a credit card?

If a loan is 0% interest, I can guarantee you it comes with a price. And it's most likely paid by people who don't understand it.

Credit cards already let you pay for stuff up to 60 days later with 0% interest. This new service is shorter term than that.

If your credit card pays you back 0% in rewards/cashback, you're the one leaving money on the table.

If you pay a credit card in full, you also don't pay interest, and you usually get at least a month to do so as well.

If you don't pay on time, though, you lose big – with both credit cards and BNPLs.