Why I deleted my Afterpay and Zip Pay accounts

I was in the shopping centre the other day (seems like I'm in those quite often) and I noticed a turquoise stand positioned within eye shot of anyone coming to and from the entrance. It was a huge promotional stand for Afterpay ~ the online 'interest-free' platform which started in 2015 but took over Australia during Covid-19. Why? Because, well if you didn't notice, people lost their jobs and needed way to get things and get them FAST.

So there it stood, in all its glory, displays of products gleaming from the fluorescent ceiling lights. These products ranged from popcorn and water to Marvis toothpaste (that fancy $15 stuff you never buy because $15 for toothpaste is obscene), deodorant and disposable camera's....even funky ice-cub trays were up for grabs.

They all had one thing in common, they were disposable goods, use it once then throw away.

Approaching the stand, I quickly understood what the whole gimmick was. You had to show your Afterpay card to one of the workers before choosing a free gift from the stand.

If you didn't understand what Afterpay was, all you had to do was scan one of the many QR codes around the area or get one of the promo girls to assist you. It was simple('s) (meercat price comparison reference fyi) and in the world of instant satisfaction, if you really wanted that stupid prize, then you would definitely do it.

It was too long before I rushed over to my friend, eager to show her the disposable camera I had grabbed to use at my birthday party that weekend.

'Go sign up to AfterPay and they'll give you a free gift!' I said to her, the tone of my voice elated by the word free.

'Ohh true, I don't have Afterpay though and I don't really want it either'

'Fair enough' I shrugged, happy with my product and even happier with the beauty products, furry $70 slippers (don't judge, they are comforting) and pair of pants I had 'bought' with the Afterpay card that day. With virtually no upfront costs, I wouldn't begin to pay off these items until the next two weeks. And with three items now resting on my Afterpay account, I knew they would have to be paid off...eventually.

But here comes my dilemma, I also have a $379 bed frame still being paid off on Zip Pay. So between the two easy to download apps and my other bills including rent, phone and gym...I was getting myself into a bit of a rut. Even more so, because I don't even have a job. And I doubt if many of the other people downloading that card that day have stable incomes either...seeing as they were mostly teenagers, they get us while we're young hey. There's no strict requirements for downloading Afterpay, you just have to have a name and number (basically) and away you go....tap tap tapping on anything with a price tag.

This type of financing has been around for years though. Who hasn't bought something from Harvey Norman on interest-free finance? The problem emerges with this new card they are advertising. You don't need to prove you have a job or anything to get it, so what happens if you can't pay on time? Well, a fee gets added onto the payment and then you're up shit creek aren't you while the big finance corporations look a little something like this...

I didn't even know until my mum pointed out to me today that a $6 fee was being added onto every ZipPay payment of my bed frame if I didn't repay the full amount within the agreed interest-free term (being 1 month).

Retailers want to provide buy-now-pay-later options for their customers as a means of convenience. But quick convenience seems to come at a pro-longed cost. And unfortunately, everyone is being caught in the trap. Statistics from finty.com state that, 'by early 2018, 1.5 million customers had bought a billion dollars worth of goods using Afterpay' (Finty, 2021) and to think that these statistics were before the card that was only recently introduced.

So this brings me to the 'now' (quite a splendid time to be in actually) when I was prompted to write this after having a morning conversation with my mum out in the sunny backyard. We spoke about how I needed to get my finances in order and stop feeling like I'm stepping back in life. So my advice to you is not to let the big corporations take your cash, reclaim it back by shopping only when you have the money ready to go, fight the system and DELETE THOSE APPS.

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UPDATE: As of this afternoon I have officially deleted both AfterPay and Zip Pay from my life - we are unlinked, gone, no fake money for Elly anymore. Time to live freely on my own accord which is debt free baby!! Goodbye AfterPay and Zip Pay you will NOT be missed.

Source:

Finty (2021). Afterpay vs. ZipPay: Who Wins? https://finty.com/au/guides/afterpay-vs-zippay/

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THANKS FOR READING x

Elly-Grace Rinaldis is currently in her final year at QUT as a Fine Arts student majoring in Creative Writing. She adores writing about her Greek heritage on the island of Kythira and the many summers she has spent there. When she isn’t gallivanting around the globe, Elly-Grace is found in Brisbane watching the sunset with a glass of pinot noir. Her debut poetry collection ‘Five Summers: An Anthology’ is available now.