It's my pleasure to welcome you to the Clark Howard Show, where our mission is to serve

and empower you so you make better financial decisions in your life.

I want to talk about something that has spread like crazy around the United States.

I first brought it up in 2020 leading up to the Christmas selling season and it was not

as widespread then as it's become now.

Know what it is?

It's when you get to a register in a store or you're shopping online and at the last

second you're offered an option of not having to pay for what you're buying.

I mean is this a great country or what?

That item you've got there, that new piece of electronics or that new purse or that

shirt or blouse or that dress or whatever.

You don't have to pay for it.

You can just walk out with it right now and you're like what's the catch?

People will allow you to pay for it typically over four easy payments and no interest.

It's called by now pay later.

It was popularized in Australia and now big time in the United States and I see it and

experience it everywhere I go now with by now pay later.

Many different competitors doing it square bought the biggest one recently called after

pay.

They paid roughly $30 billion to buy it.

How could there be so much money in letting people walk out of stores or shop online without

having to pay any money when you get the goods?

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