Deliveroo and Klarna: Debt advisor Mabs urges people not to 'eat now, pay later'

Klarna offers which pop up on nearly everything are so bad IMO. They are like the payday loans that lure people into serious debt. But they are also somewhat ridiculous… I was buying some shampoo… not easily found in physical shops. It is about €15 and it was suggested I spread the repayments…

The idea of buying a TV or a car on finance… yeah I can see that… large expensive appliances yup! Makes sense these are often essential and urgent. But a takeaway? 3 month finance on a curry?

It is such a bad move… but on a practical level is it worth their while setting up a customer for a €50 purchase?
 
This thread brings home the sad reality of the times we live in.... people having to avail of credit, to buy food.

I would suspect that the problem is compounded by Deliveroo's ever increasing fees (service fees, extended delivery fees etc).
 
Annieindublin said:
but on a practical level is it worth their while setting up a customer for a €50 purchase?
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It's the bigger picture, the bait if you will. Their customer then defaults to them as lender for clothes or toasters or whatever else, it's easy and no delays or questions....all getting rolled up into a debt snowball with a likeky dreadful interest rate and penalties....suspect the penalties will be severe.

It's payday lending in all but name.
 
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I hate those payday ads. And I know so many young folk who got sucked into buying so much on the never-never. Particularly in the UK. Dunno if it’s more prevalent there or I just happen to know a lot of English kids on low wages. Kids of friends away at college or otherwise living away from home. Less guidance maybe. Not that my kids are fiscally responsible but blowing your pay and not saving is bad but getting into debt, and in one case ending up in court, for random online purchases and now takeaways..,, scary!
 
I don't see what the problem is with this product/service:
If some people misuse it then that's their problem.

And, in spite of the click baity headline, it's not just for food deliveries.
 
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Interest free credit is a great idea. Especially if you pay before you incur late fees etc.

But allowing people to buy stuff on credit with zero credit checking allows them to get into debt. Debt they can’t manage to repay and get deeper and deeper.

If you asked your bank manager for a loan to buy a take away, to spread the cost over 3 months,,, s/he’d laugh at you. And if said bank manager was a responsible caring adult they’d tell you to cop on and look at your budget and try to live within your means.

Click on a pop up advert and upload a photo ID and get whatever you want delivered immediately is not a way to teach people or to protect them from themselves.

I agree it’s up to people to grow up, take responsibility etc but it’s not a good plan for society to allow people to get into debt.

Pay day loans are advertised heavily on daytime TV. I was off sick a few years ago and I was shocked at how often I was encouraged to just make a quick call and get rapidly into debt. The advertising is slick and looks almost like a public service, « struggling with debts… call us and borrow more ». Was the essence of it. Very seductive
 
If you are broke .. Tesco won’t give you credit but Deliveroo will. That’s not a great message

Actually can you use Klarna to buy groceries.. probably can.

As I mentioned I was offered credit at least 3 times while I was buying shampoo. That’s crazy! And irresponsible
 
JoeRoberts said:
Takeaway is a luxury though, the real problem is they are too lazy to buy and cook proper food at a much reduced cost.
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Not always. People with mobility problems or with certain disabilities and who live alone, may not be able to cook for themselves. They may rely on either microwaveable meals purchased from supermarkets or on pre-prepared meals delivered to them from local take-aways.

Where I live the local "meals on wheels" service has ceased, meaning that the clients who could once avail of this service, which they paid for, now rely on the much more expensive take-aways and their delivery services.
 
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Annieindublin said:
with zero credit checking allows them to get into debt.
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It isn't "zero":
Klarna said it performs a “soft credit check” on customers, only increasing the amount of credit available if consumers demonstrate healthy repayment behaviour, and shutting off credit if repayments are not made.
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Annieindublin said:
Actually can you use Klarna to buy groceries.. probably can
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Didn't you read the article that you're commenting on?
 
ClubMan said:
It isn't "zero":
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Adtech is worth billions of dollars and no one talks about it.

A profile of you as a consumer is assembled from your digital traces. Ads are targeted in that basis.

I assume they can do a profile of you as a customer as well and offer credit on that basis.
 
You can use klarna to buy some groceries. But not the more basic shops. Ready meals and suchlike from convenience shops are not really a good idea of you’re broke.

And yes I did read the article clubman. The details of exactly who does use it hadn’t resonated as grocery shops.

Lots of us use methods of payment such as credit cards, but we don’t necessarily take a month or two or three Credit. We use it as a payment system.

That is very different to buying luxury food on the never never.

And the soft credit checks are fairly meaningless IMO if someone can set up an account and get credit and buy items without even a proof of an income. That’s really soft!
 
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I once sat beside a very friendly traveller couple in a local cheap and cheerful restaurant and they told me how difficult it was to cook a proper meal in their small caravan. So they ate out at least twice a week in cheap local restaurants. Made sense to me - and they were eating reasonably healthy grub: fish, chips and mushy peas!
 
I use stocard and I’ve been ignoring the message about updates. I guess I had better read the small print. I assume there is something in it for the retailers and klarna.
 
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