Dwell live shows and sporting occasions are costlier than ever these days. Tickets for Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter Tour presently vary from $72 to over $2,000, as one instance. In accordance with Pollstar data, the 2024 common ticket value for a prime 100 touring artist was $135.92.
Amid rising inflation, mass layoffs and a unstable economic system, extra Individuals are turning to “purchase now, pay later” (BNPL) loans by means of suppliers like Affirm and Klarna to afford these costly occasions.
These providers enable shoppers to pay for his or her tickets in smaller installments as a substitute of all of sudden. Within the StubHub checkout course of for a Cowboy Carter ticket, for instance, shoppers can purchase a $90 ticket for $15.61/month, or in six interest-free funds.
And for a rising group of Individuals, this sort of mortgage has changed utilizing a bank card.
Not like with a bank card, folks making use of for a BNPL mortgage “could be permitted for credit score inside seconds, and so they sometimes don’t do a credit score examine,” defined Ed deHaan, a professor at Stanford College’s Graduate College of Enterprise. He mentioned BNPL loans could be the “first selection” cost choice for a lot of younger individuals who don’t have a bank card, have restricted credit score historical past, or have a low credit score rating.
In a Lending Tree survey carried out this April of two,000 U.S. shoppers ages 18 to 79, round half reported utilizing “purchase now, pay later” loans to purchase their garments, telephones, residence decorations, occasions ― and even groceries. In reality, about 7 in 10 BNPL customers had been younger folks ages 18 to twenty-eight, together with 26% who’ve had three or extra BNPL loans at one time.
“Individuals are cash-strapped proper now,” mentioned Jen Hemphill, an accredited monetary counselor. “They don’t come up with the money for, and [a BNPL loan] is simply an immediate resolution to their issues.”
However earlier than you employ a BNPL mortgage to make your huge buy, it is best to know the distinctive dangers these loans have.
The Professionals And Cons Of Utilizing ‘Purchase Now, Pay Later’ Loans
The large benefit ― and potential hazard ― with a BNPL mortgage is the benefit with which you’ll spend some huge cash rapidly. On a bank card, you could cope with a recurring month-to-month invoice, however a BNPL mortgage lets you have various cost schedules. Some may even see this flexibility as a blessing that lets you repay a one-time giant expense like a laptop computer in your most well-liked schedule.
“If you should utilize it responsibly, then, yeah, it’s nice,” deHaan mentioned, noting that BNPL corporations are serving populations who could not have the ability to entry credit score in any other case.
“If I didn’t have a bank card and I principally pay every part in money, and I went on-line to purchase one thing substantial … I would do this,” deHaan mentioned as one situation. “I believe one mortgage might be fairly straightforward to form of mentally account for.”
However upon getting a number of BNPL loans on totally different schedules, it might quickly flip right into a logistical nightmare.
DeHaan gave the instance of getting 15 totally different BNPL loans at one time: “So daily, you possibly can have a number of deductions out of your checking account as these loans are being repaid,” he mentioned. “And for me, I simply actually battle to see how folks can mentally preserve monitor of all of that, relative to a bank card the place you’ve received one steadiness, one month-end cost.“
Some BNPL suppliers require debtors to arrange computerized funds for his or her loans, and plenty of cost a late payment for missed funds, which might result in bother down the road.
A BNPL supplier doesn’t should report back to your monetary lenders how a lot debt you take on, and also you may begin taking up extra debt than you possibly can repay comfortably. DeHaan’s analysis has found that BNPL customers usually tend to have financial institution overdraft prices than nonusers.
Even if you’re good at paying your BNPL loans on time, deHaan mentioned it could actually come on the expense of paying off different important money owed like your auto mortgage or cellphone invoice.
“The BNPL suppliers are good at getting you to prioritize your BNPL cost, as a result of it robotically comes out of your account each two weeks, they instantly reduce you off should you miss a cost, your credit score restrict goes up whenever you make funds,” he defined, “so folks prioritize that cost, however they’re not making one thing else.”
It is best to at all times learn the positive print earlier than you employ a BNPL mortgage, significantly if it’s a boutique BNPL credit score system just like the one Coachella makes use of. In accordance with a Billboard report, greater than half of 2025 Coachella normal admission attendees bought their tickets by means of cost plans.
However beneath the 2025 Coachella BNPL system, prospects incurred an extra $41 cost only for utilizing the service. Often, a BNPL firm doesn’t cost customers an upfront payment only for utilizing it. The Coachella cost plan is “a foul deal to start with,” deHaan mentioned. “That’s a excessive rate of interest that you simply’re paying.”
“A live performance ticket could be a extremely good instance of one thing that might appeal to [you] to spend past [your] means,” deHaan mentioned. “You persuade your self momentarily that you simply’ll have the ability to make these funds, and earlier than you realize it, you’re not making them.”
In worst instances, should you miss a cost, you might be “out a pair 100 bucks and also you don’t have a ticket to the present,” he mentioned.
Whether or not they scare or excite you, you possibly can count on “Purchase Now, Pay Later” cash preparations to maintain increasing.
Through the Biden administration, the Shopper Monetary Safety Board ― an impartial federal company ― cracked down on fintech merchandise, together with BNPL corporations. However deHaan famous that the present CFPB beneath Donald Trump is backing away from these laws. In March, the CFPB signaled that it might spike its interpretive rule, launched final 12 months, that might have introduced some bank card protections to “purchase now, pay later” merchandise, together with a proper to dispute prices and to demand a refund from lenders.
Because of this, “I believe we’ll see now much more different credit score merchandise popping up,” deHaan mentioned.
And will probably be as much as shoppers to remain on prime of these funds. “When it’s straightforward and it feels doable, then you definately do it, however then you definately don’t understand the monetary bother you may get into should you proceed to stack up these “purchase now, pay later [loans],” Hemphill mentioned.
Hemphill mentioned that ideally, folks would construct up their financial savings for “enjoyable funds” like live shows, in order that “you’re treating that financial savings like a invoice” as a substitute of relying upon “purchase now, pay later” preparations to deal with your self.
However for now, too many individuals have the mentality of “I’ll cope with it later. I actually need to go to this live performance,” Hemphill mentioned.
