Trickily, BNPL is pushed as 'not credit', which I find deeply disingenuous. The product they push is utilised by compulsive spenders, or poorer people. These people have always used credit, much to their collective disadvantage. Branding it as 'like lay-by, free up your cashflow' is in my opinion a dangerous option for many people.

It's rather paternalistic to assume poor people can't handle credit.

Are you kidding? Poor people of course cannot handle credit, because they don't have the cashflow or savings to prevent the use of credit in disadvantageous situations. I am not saying poor people shouldn't have credit, I am saying credit is most destructive for poorer people, and so any service that targets that market is exploitative of their misfortune.

> Poor people of course cannot handle credit

That starts you down a very slippery slope of what other things poor people supposedly can't handle, because of course you know what's best for them.

They would definitely be less poor if they could