Apple has officially launched its pay Later program the company's take on the Buy now pay later Services people can Access the service within their apple Wallet to avoid paying the full price For a product right away Apple first Announced the program at last year's Worldwide developers conference so here To discuss is Emma Roth she is the Weekend news editor at The Verge so Let's just sort of get the basics out of The way how does Apple pay how does Apple pay later work how is it different From some of the other pay buy now pay Later offerings Yeah so Apple pay it lets you pay make a Purchase and then pay for it over the Course of six weeks and four Installments and like other services it Doesn't have late fees and it also Doesn't have interest Um so it kind of it's kind of like other Services that you may have heard of like A firm after pay in klarna yeah however This is kind of Apple's own spin on Things here so wait what's the time to Make money yeah how do they make money Well they they make money I think by Keeping you kind of in their ecosystem Right so you're gonna have to use Apple Pay to use pay later and you're also Gonna have to have an iPhone like have An iPhone or iPad because it's going to Exist in uh the Apple wallet so you can
Track all your payments so I think their Benefit here is that it keeps you in the IPhone ecosystem well I am thoroughly in The iPhone ecosystem right like for that Very reason I want all my devices to Talk to each other it's just it's a lot Easier but I don't really understand why It's like is that the primary reason why Apple is even moving into this space Just to keep me contained in the Apple World Yes I think that's honestly the primary Reason they did launch a credit card Um back in 2019 but this kind of this Brings a financial services into Apple's Own hands they actually opened up Another subsidiary just to handle the Lending part of this whole thing and This kind of uh digs Apple deeper into The world of Finance so let me tell you Why I don't like it all right because When I was in college this is back in The 80s uh I realized that I could get a Credit card without having any money in The bank Um and so I got myself one of those Credit cards went to spring break spent Every last time that I didn't have on That credit card and then when I came Back I couldn't pay the bills right and You were like what's that pay later part Of this agreement right there's an Interest rate Um but here the danger I think guys is
That um because our our children young People have these phones and they can Download this this they can use Apple Pay and buy a lot of stuff and in this Particular case I mean back in the day You had mail you know and parents Started seeing these bills in the mail And they realized what I had done here You might not even know what your kid is Up to or even forget just children People who don't have the ability to pay And now they're in the hole but I think It's got to be attached to a card right Oh does it yeah it's attached to a card Yeah so the way with uh Apple's pay Leader program it is attached to a debit Card like you can't use the credit card With it and Um they do perform yeah they perform a Soft credit check before uh you apply I Mean that doesn't affect your credit Score but it kind of also puts people at A higher risk Um to kind of get approved for these Loans and keep spending spending Spending picking them all up and it is a Little bit risky there the challenge is That you overextend yourself without Knowing it right so there's no fees here There's no interest unlike a credit card Or unlike some of these other payment Programs but you know if you weren't Gonna buy a 250 dollar bikini which I Can't even believe bikinis cost that
Much it's two little things of fabric if You weren't gonna buy that suddenly You're like oh but it's just 50 bucks Right right and then you do that a few Times and suddenly that just 50 bucks is Now 300 or 400 that you're spending Every two weeks to get ahead of these Payment programs and you're beholden to Apple the point being that as Emma Points out that apple is getting in the Financial side of things right yeah yeah But Apple probably already knows Everything about us about me anyways but I think that that is the big challenge Is you end up spending more than you Really can afford to do because it feels So easy in the moment yeah uh Emma thank You very much for your reporting we Appreciate it yeah thanks for having me
