From Atome to Hoolah to Seize, there’s now a complete slew of ‘Purchase Now, Pay Later’ providers available on the market. Just like bank card 0% curiosity instalment plans, these providers allow you to cut up large ticket purchases into a number of small funds.
Whereas we at all times advocate making good monetary selections and spending inside your means, we all know that these providers are awfully engaging given these darkish financial instances. Even when you can afford the total quantity, you may nonetheless wish to pay by instalment simply to unlock your money move for pressing use.
We’ll check out the Purchase Now Pay Later (BNPL) suppliers in Singapore under to search out out if there’s a catch.
How do Purchase Now Pay Later providers work?
The thought of splitting an costly buy into a number of instalments isn’t new. Bank cards have been providing this for the longest time through their 0% curiosity instalment plans.
With bank cards, the catch is that you might want to pay a one-time processing payment equal to a share of your transaction. In addition they cost an early cost payment when you attempt to pay up earlier or cancel the bank card with which you paid!
However, the brand new breed of Purchase Now Pay Later suppliers like Seize PayLater, Atome, Hoolah and Rely are non-bank startups providing related providers, besides (seemingly) with out the strings hooked up.
For a begin, they don’t cost us processing charges and early reimbursement charges. As a substitute, they make cash by charging their accomplice retailers transaction charges.
That stated, you might want to pay every instalment on time. BNPL suppliers won’t hesitate to cost you a late cost payment when you miss a cost on the stipulated date, and can droop your account till you’ve made cost.
It’s additionally price noting that almost all BNPL plans are within the exclusions listing for eligible spend tied to your bank card. You should definitely double verify the phrases and circumstances of your bank card earlier than charging the acquisition to your bank card!
Purchase Now Pay Later comparability: Atome vs Hoolah vs Seize PayLater & extra
Right here’s a fast listing of widespread BNPL providers you may come throughout whereas procuring.
| Purchase Now Pay Later Supplier | Tenure | Late Fee Charge |
| Atome | 3 months | From $20 |
| Seize PayLater | 4 months | $10 |
| hoolah | 3 months | From $5 |
| OctiFi | 3 months | From $15 |
| Tempo | 3 months | From $10 |
| Rely | 3 months, or 4 funds each 2 weeks | As much as $40 relying on order worth |
You might not have the possibility to check and select your most popular Purchase Now Pay Later service if the net retailer you’re shopping for from is barely be working with one supplier.
Nonetheless, it’s good to know what you’re signing up for when you’re deliberating between instalment vs paying the total quantity. Extra particulars on every supplier under.
Atome
| Purchase Now Pay Later Tenure | Late Fee Charge Construction | Vouchers | Service provider Listing |
| 3 months | $20 for the primary missed reimbursement and reactivation of frozen account
If the above talked about $20 isn’t paid inside 7 days, a further $10 can be charged, as much as a cap of $60 |
$10 off your first on-line buy on Atome
Extra service provider particular vouchers on the app |
View Atome’s accomplice retailers right here. |
Atome is without doubt one of the extra aggressive BNPL suppliers in Singapore, and has a presence each on-line and in-store. For in-store purchases, you might want to scan and pay through QR code. Do notice that your complete course of happens in your telephone, which is perhaps fairly troublesome to some.
To entice you to buy extra, Atome’s app has some on-line procuring vouchers which can permit you to save a bit in your buy.
Be sure to weigh that towards the price of opting to pay by instalment although. For instance, in case your cashflow is shaky and you find yourself lacking funds, you is perhaps charged as much as $60 in late charges!
Seize PayLater
| Purchase Now Pay Later Tenure | Late Fee Charge Construction | Signal-up Vouchers | Service provider Listing |
| 4 months | $10 for each missed cost and reactivation of suspended PayLater account | Bonus Seize factors with Seize Postpaid
Extra service provider particular vouchers on the app |
View Seize PayLater accomplice retailers through the app right here. |
Seize PayLater has seamless integration with the Seize app, and is barely obtainable for on-line purchases.
Sadly, you’ll be able to’t earn GrabRewards factors when you select to BNPL through Seize PayLater Instalments. However you’ll be able to earn factors when you go for Seize PayLater Postpaid, which is a service that permits you to consolidate all of your purchases inside the Seize app right into a single invoice.
These 2 choices grow to be obtainable after you’ve activated PayLater inside the Seize app.
Hoolah
| Purchase Now Pay Later Tenure | Late Fee Charge Construction | Vouchers | Service provider Listing |
| 3 months | $5 for orders below $99
$15 for orders between $100 to $999.99 $30 for orders over $1,000 |
Extra service provider particular vouchers on the app | View Hoolah’s accomplice retailers right here. |
Hoolah might be some of the well-known Purchase Now Pay Later suppliers in Singapore and it has fairly quite a few accomplice retailers.
Its late cost construction is kind of complicated, although — Hoolah doesn’t state what the frequency of the late cost fees can be when you miss a number of funds. So ensure you do pay on time and in full to keep away from getting slapped with unknown penalties.
OctiFi
| Purchase Now Pay Later Tenure | Late Fee Charge Construction | Signal-up Vouchers | Service provider Listing |
| 3 months | $15 for each late cost and reactivation of suspended account | NIL | View OctiFi’s accomplice retailers right here. |
Very similar to the remainder of the BNPL service suppliers, OctiFi gives shoppers the choice to pay for his or her purchases in month-to-month instalments for 3 months.
Nonetheless, in contrast to the others, OctFi doesn’t supply sign-up bonuses or merchant-specific reductions. In addition they have the one of many least numerous vary of accomplice retailers.
Tempo
| Purchase Now Pay Later Tenure | Late Fee Charge Construction | Signal-up Vouchers | Service provider Listing |
| 3 months | $10 preliminary late cost, elevated by $1 per day after the due date
For orders below $40, just one $10 cost is levied for each late cost For orders above $40, late charges can be 25% of the unique order worth or $60, whichever is much less |
$10 off in your first buy on Tempo
View the cardboard particular promotions on the Tempo app right here |
View Tempo’s accomplice retailers right here. |
Tempo’s design is clearly meant to draw millennials — in all probability probably the most broke era to have ever existed within the historical past of company capitalism.
Tempo’s late cost payment construction is each complicated and scary. Not solely will you be charged a late cost payment, the payment will increase together with the scale of the acquisition in addition to the tardiness of your cost. So yeah. Be sure to pay on time!
Rely
| Purchase Now Pay Later Tenure | Late Fee Charge Construction | Signal-up Vouchers | Service provider Listing |
| 3 months or 4 fortnights (each 2 weeks) | $1 to 40 relying on order worth | 10% cashback in your first transaction with Rely
Extra service provider particular vouchers on the app |
View Rely’s accomplice retailers right here. |
Rely‘s late cost payment construction is extremely imprecise. They simply inform you to not miss funds with out telling you what the fees are. Scary, huh?
It’s price double checking with their customer support in regards to the late cost charges earlier than you click on Purchase Now — when you nonetheless wish to pay by instalment, that’s.
Purchase Now Pay Later vs 0% bank card instalment plans
For comparability’s sake, let’s additionally try the extra common bank cards’ 0% curiosity instalment plans:
| 0% Curiosity Instalment Plan | Instalment Tenure | Processing Charge | Early Compensation Charge |
| DBS Fee Plan | 3, 6, 12, 18 or 24 months | 3 or 6 months: 0% 12 months: 5% 18 and 24 months: 6% |
$150 |
| OCBC PayLite | 3, 6 or 12 months | 3 or 6 months: 3% 12 months: 5% |
$150 |
| Customary Chartered EasyPay | 3, 6 or 12 months | 5% | $50 |
| UOB SmartPay | 3, 6 or 12 months | 3 or 6 months: 3% 12 months: 5% |
$100 |
We expect it’s a foul thought to go for the bank card’s 0% curiosity instalment plan as a result of not solely do they tack on processing charges, additionally they penalise you for paying early. Instalment funds are often excluded from eligible bank card spending anyway.
In case you actually, actually need to separate your buy into instalments, we’d say that the Purchase Now Pay Later providers are the lesser evil in comparison with bank cards. At the least the tenures are fairly brief, and you’ll repay your mini-loan early and never get charged for it.
The one time you may want to contemplate a 0% bank card instalment plan is when you’re hit with a giant medical invoice, as some bank cards supply this service with medical suppliers.
Must you Purchase Now, Pay Later?
The explanations for choosing Purchase Now Pay Later providers or 0% instalment plans might differ between individuals, but it surely’s broadly agreed that elevated money move is one in every of them.
For instance, let’s say you want a PC monitor or first rate workplace chair in your WFH setup however don’t have that a lot money proper now. You would in all probability save up for it in 3 months, however what could be the purpose? We would all should be again at work by then.
On this case, a BNPL plan may make sense. You may gain advantage from an improved WFH setup instantly, whereas breaking apart the funds into extra manageable instalments. And also you’d nonetheless have cash left over for meals this month.
You need to solely Purchase Now Pay Later when you’re assured about your revenue within the quick future and have good self-discipline. In any other case, you face the chance of late cost charges, which may snowball into debt.
However watch out about shopping for issues on instalment…
Whereas Purchase Now Pay Later providers could also be a godsend throughout these lean instances, we must always nonetheless save up for our purchases the nice quaint means wherever potential.
Keep in mind that opting to “pay later” is actually borrowing from your self sooner or later. Must you run up some emergency bills subsequent month, you may find yourself regretting your BNPL buy.
Purchase Now Pay Later providers can also create a false sense of affordability round shopper items by splitting up the price of an merchandise into smaller packets. And since there’s no credit score verify course of, it’s nearly too simple to rack up debt with a number of purchases on instalment — an enormous downside in international locations like Australia and the UK.
Be aware that Purchase Now Pay Later providers are on MAS’s radar, however they aren’t regulated for the time being.
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