This is the Ramsey call of the day part of the Ramsey network Well folks if you drive a normal car like normal people you've had to get gas like normal people and you've probably been very angry at the pump Here in our neck of the woods gas is running about $4.30 right now Which is about double what it was it feels like six months ago and to add insult to injury The by now pay later companies are screwing everyone over because here's the new news out this week You can now buy now pay later for gas. That's right You can now have the pleasure of paying for gas that you bought three weeks ago This is sad stuff and Klarna and zip they have partnered with gas stations to provide this Texco and chevron gas stations have the option to split up your payment into four payments over six weeks So we like to joke that you can do by now pay later on a $10 item and make $2.50 Sent payments for four months and now you can do that with a gallon of gas or 10 gallons of gas And we just released our Ramsey research state of personal finance annual report and by now pay later has exploded in popularity Especially with younger generations nearly one in four people made a purchase using a by now pay later service in 2021 and millennials Are leading the charge four and ten millennials made an online purchase with by now pay later compared to just 18% of Gen X and just 4% of Baby boomers and if you know anything by now pay later, it's just a modern marketing version of installment plans So when you go add to cart right below that it looks like you can get 75% off by splitting it up into four payments And the companies are making a lot of money on this the retailers are making so much money on this And it's not just the interest and fees they can get you with the bigger issue I have with it is the overspending in fact Klarna on their website They are bragging to retailers that customers spend 45% more on the average store order when they use a by now Pay later service. So at least they're self-aware that they're screwing you. I guess that's a good sign Don't do this.
Don't pay for gas that you bought three weeks ago When you are paying for the past you can't build for the future. So I know times are tough I know gas is insane. I know housing is insane. I know car prices are insane So here what can we do about this?
Well, we can control the controllables and we can still pay cash for things It might mean more patience. It might mean more sacrifice It might mean we're cutting a subscription. We're not eating out as much. We're meal prepping We're eating at a new restaurant called Mikasa.
That's right. We're gonna eat at our house If you don't know basic Spanish 101 there, so this is sad to see and I want you guys to stay away from the by now pay later schemes I want you to lay your purchases be a Y spender stick to your budget and if you want to learn more about by now pay later We did an entire episode on this on season one of the fine print You can find out where every listen to podcast and it's called after pay a firm Klarna should you buy now or pay later You can go check that out wherever you listen to podcast Thanks for tuning in to the Ramsey call of the day check out all of our podcast just search Ramsey network on Apple podcast Spotify or wherever you listen