Revealed: 36.26% of Shoppers Admit to Being Concerned About Their Finances

With the rise of Buy Now Pay Later schemes it is no surprise that the Shop Now Stress Later Study by money.co.uk has revealed that the main concern of shoppers currently is their finances – as BNPL schemes tempt consumers into taking on unsustainable debt. 

https://www.money.co.uk/guides/generation-debt-trap

The study reveals: 

• 36.26% of shoppers surveyed admit to being concerned about their finances
• 30.61% of those surveyed stated they were concerned about their mental health
• As opposed to only 7.94% of respondents being concerned for their credit score
• Females (38.62%) are more concerned about their finances than men (33.51%)
• Respondents aged 16-24 were more concerned about their mental health (31.55%) than their finances.
• Those aged 25-34 were more concerned about their finances (37.62%) and mental health was their second concern
• The respondents aged 55+ were mainly concerned about their families health as opposed to their finances
• The SouthWest region of the UK had a higher percentage of respondents concerned about their finances (42.07%) followed by the SouthEast region (40.87%)
• Wales (33.94%), Scotland (37.42%), and the North West (34.98%) had more respondents admit they were more concerned about their mental health than finances
• Norwich was the top city for admitting they were concerned about their finances (46.77%) followed by Bristol (45.68%), and Leeds (44.09%)
• The majority of respondents were living with their partner and expressed concerns with their finances (42.3%) and were employed on a part-time basis (38.74%) as opposed to full time (38.71%)

In the UK, we owe an average of £176 per person to Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) Schemes such as Klarna, Laybuy, and Clearpay.

The average overall time taken to pay off a BNPL debt was around eight months. Klarna debt is estimated to take five months to pay back, Clearpay six months, and Laybuy eight months.

Over a third of BNPL users (34%) stated that they felt confident in paying back what they owe on time, with a fifth (21%) stating the opposite.