Apple’s buy now pay later

According to an indiscretion published by Bloomberg, Apple is allegedly working on the dossier with Goldman Sachs as the financial partner of the operation. The same one that, since 2019, is a partner for the Apple Card credit card, which in this case would not be necessary to access the payment in installments: it will be enough to have associated your payment methods to the Apple Pay wallet. Apple already offers the possibility to pay its own products in monthly installments if purchased with Apple Card, but this novelty would expand the possibility to all transactions, both physical and online, and to all payment methods registered on Apple Pay. From the first rumors published by Bloomberg, the service should work like this. When a user makes a purchase via Apple Pay using their device, they will be given the option to pay everything immediately or by dividing the expense into several installments: 4 interest-free, to be paid every two weeks (from the provisional name of “Apple Pay in 4 ”) or over several months, in this case with additional interest. The extent of the interests has not yet been disclosed. The range in the BNPL market is quite varied, with the main rival in the United States, Affirm, reaching up to 30%, or the European Klarna applying a rate of 19.99% for longer installments, while others such as Afterpay simply “fine” late payments with fairly high fees (up to 25% of the purchase in case an installment is missed). Apple’s goal with the new feature is to increase contactless payments through its wallet, on which every iPhone owner can load their cards (both debit and credit cards) and pay directly by bringing the smartphone close to the pos. A system already used by 50 million people, 6 and a half million of whom have also subscribed to the Apple Card. These are not numbers that can scare the big names in the sector, but it is still a substantial slice of the market in which Apple aims to build own ecosystem. To access the BNPL signed by Apple, you would not need a credit score check, but only the signature of a digital form with the verification of one’s identity. PayPal is also gradually introducing the possibility of installment payments, which is already active in part of the United States, in the United Kingdom with a mechanism very similar to that provided by Apple Pay, but with a much more aggressive commercial policy. In Australia, for example, where BNPL Paypal was launched just a month ago, a move has been announced that risks ousting its main rival, Afterpay, from the top of the market. In fact, unlike its competitors, PayPal has decided not to apply any fees for late payments, preferring instead a soft check of the credit before authorizing the subscription to the installment service.