Money Advice Liaison Group (MALG) is pleased to be supporting research being undertaken by academics from Swansea University and the University of Gloucestershire entitled: ‘Co-creating Intermediation Tools for Financially Vulnerable or Over-Indebted Buy-Now-Pay-Later Users‘.
Academic research carried out over the last few years has identified links between BNPL use and materialism, impulsivity, sales proneness and lack of financial self-control. In a 2023 paper by Zhao, A. L., & Ward, P. entitled ‘Why wait? Buy now pay later: Investigating the impact of deferred cashless payments on younger British consumers’, 500 UK BNPL users were surveyed. 30% used it ‘often or almost always’ and 1 in 3 were charged interest and late fees and used a credit card. Nearly 2 in 3 BNPL users liked the service and believed it is a good and wise idea despite the fact that 48% felt financially vulnerable.
Read The Conversation article published in December 2025: ‘Many shoppers take a strange comfort of buying now and paying later – but it can come with a sting after Christmas.’
The new MALG-backed project, being carried out between September 2025 and September 2026, aims to develop a toolkit for use with over-indebted BNPL users or those prone to overconsumption. Focused on the UK market, the researchers need participation from consumers and debt advisers to co-design, co-test and co-revise a free, accessible, and appropriate tool designed to address the challenges raised by the growth in BNPL lending by building users’ knowledge and resilience.
Register your interest in participating here.
Want to share your thoughts, experience, stories or expertise around supporting or helping those in financial difficulty as a result of BNPL use? Contact Anita Zhao on a.l.zhao@swansea.ac.uk.
