“It’s almost like the risk is the stuff that we don’t
even know about yet,” says Terri Bradford, a senior
payments specialist at the Federal Reserve Bank of
Kansas City.
HOW TO CHOOSE A PROVIDER
When shopping for a buy now, pay later provider ,
Bradford says “it’s not like there’s a one-size-fits-all.”
Buy now, pay later apps won’t be your only options
— banks offer at-checkout financing, too. For
example, First National Bank of Omaha rolled out
its own buy now, pay later service last fall.
In addition to helping businesses offer at-checkout
financing with payment terms of a few months,
FNBO has point-of-sale loans with terms as long as
10 years.
“It’s really just a new way to lend money to
customers in the more digital, instantaneous age,”
FNBO’s Worick says.
Look for a buy now, pay later provider that
integrates with your point-of-sale system. If
you have a brick-and-mortar location, note that
some providers are now available in stores as
well as online.
It’s also important to choose a provider that you
trust to represent your business, because shoppers
don’t always distinguish between a merchant and
the third party they’re using for payments.
“Do the due diligence to figure out who that
partner is, what their terms are, what they do for
the consumer,” Bradford says, “because those are
your customers.”