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Over half of Gen Z and Millennials have used Buy Now Pay later to purchase something they couldn't afford. And now they've taken to the Internet to celebrate. And today I'll be reacting to the best of those celebrations along with some other S tier Buy Now Pay later tiktoks. So with that, we'll give a quick attaboy to Deleteme for sponsoring the channel and hop right in.
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I have spent $32,196.23 on a firm in Klarna since 2020.
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Why are you so happy?
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And the big question is, what did I purchase? If you are new here, hi, my name is Diva and I am $107,000 in debt and I am the affirming Klarna girl. Yep, when I started this journey I had $9,500 in debt to affirm in Klarna. I now have it under $3,000 and we are about to pay off eight of those suckers next week. But what this is a question everybody always asks. Honestly, everything under this I have done groceries, I have purchased concert tickets, I have purchased Airbnb, I have gotten my car fixed on a firm in Klarna. All kinds of stuff. I think I've even gotten gift cards for random stuff. You can pretty much purchase anything you want almost on Affirm in Klarna. And I do get questions like affirm.
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I think I've, I think I've heard enough here. So I'm really happy for her, truly that she is climbing out of this thing. She's sharing the journey. No hate on that. I am confused by the name. I've never heard of the name Diva. Like D E V a God given name. Nobody knows. I feel like there's power in a name and if you are Diva, you're gonna be spending some money. Yas Queen. And she at least admits that this was not for like life necessity. Some of it was the car repair, the groceries. And the stats show this 25% of buy now pay later users say they've used the loans to buy groceries. Groceries. Two thirds of Buy Now Pay later users said they'd consider using it for food delivery. So there's a big gap from well, just can't afford life's necessities. Let me put it in on debt to well, now I'm buying concert tickets and Airbnbs and doordash. All of this using Buy now pay later. So this breaks my heart because clearly she was already in a bad financial place and she turned to the only people she could turn to. The only people I could think of that are worse is like a payday lender. So there's at least some silver lining there. But it still leaves her trying to climb out of this crap month after month, payment after payment, on top of all of her other debt payments. And so this is the trap many people find themselves in. They feel like they have no other option, so they turn to this, thinking it's a small payment. At least I don't need all the money now and I can get the thing I need now. Whether that's a want or a need. And at least she's honest about that. But present you always thinks future you is going to make so many better decisions. You're going to pay it off perfectly. You're going to do this thing and the issue is you're probably not. And it's gonna take longer and it's gonna require more sacrifice. So just avoid it to begin with and your life will be better. Let's see if the comments are vibing. Are they happy for her that she's getting out of this thing? I owe Klarna $63 and I'm stressed. I relate to Nana. When I owe my friend $4, I'm stressed. I'm like, I gotta venmo it immediately. I will not wait till I get home. I'm not waiting for them to request it and then remind me about the request that stresses me out. Not me being 2k in debt with a firm and thinking I'm gonna freak. Well, at least people feel better about their own situation going, hey, someone went into even more debt. So I'm not that bad. That's a step in the right direction for self awareness. Okay, I'm gonna read this one. Get my readers on fashion mfs that use Klarna mf. Oh, if you know, you know. But don't be googling. But don't be googling. Oh my God.
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Are those the new YSL loafers?
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Yeah. Yeah. When did you get those?
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I just got them, man.
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I bought them for 10 bucks.
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10 bucks?
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Yeah.
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There's no way. Actually I'm doing 90 interest free payments of $10 every month. Yeah, I'm like, you know, after pay, that's like 90 months. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But when you think about it, it's passive income. I'm saving that $10 and I can just reinvest that. So what? Why not just a credit card, you know, I gotta go. I'll catch you later, bro. That's perfect. Clearly satire. We hope it's satire. That's some cutting satire. But he said, I only paid 10 bucks for this. Yeah, 90 payments of 10 bucks. But I'm saving that 10 bucks. Investing it somehow. Arbitraging it probably. And if you add that up, doing the math at home, check me on this one, $900 to be swagged out and not in a good way. I don't know if that's actually on trend. Cause I assume they actually own this clothing and wore it seriously. But it's kind of G. Seinfeld with like the ruffled outfit episode. Kind of piratey. You look like the Count of Monte Cristo. Not into it personally, but this is true. People will defend it to the death and make it seem like it's no big deal, that they put it on some payments and it's just. It's only $10. Right, but it's death by a thousand cuts. Death by 1,000. $10 is a lot of money. Like $10,000. That's math. So that's how it happens. And I wanna see if the comments section understands the. That this is satire. PayPal and 4 My Goat. That's not good. Klarna won't let me back in. I said, sorry. That's like a casino in Vegas being like, hey, you can't. The bar is like, hey, man, you know you can't come here anymore. Like, we're not gonna serve you. That's how you know you're in deep doo doo. Okay, but my limit is in the thousands now. Lol. Guys, this is not winning. People think they gave me a bigger line of credit. They're letting me put even more things on payments. I'm playing the game perfectly. And this is the exact trap. Buy now, pay later. Companies want you. They want you to think you're playing the game so well that they're gonna reward you with more debt. But they don't call it debt. They just call it a payment plan. A micro installment loan, if you will. And I won't. Already got me riled up. All right, let's see if John can save us.
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Your total at the apple store is $1,000. Cash or card. Oh, later. Excuse me. Oh, I'll just pay later. No, you won't. Yeah, I will. I'm using one of these 0% interest, buy now, pay later programs. Listen, kid, if you need a loan and you can't even afford this, I really wouldn't. Oh, I have the cash right here. But using one of these 0% interest loans, I get to protect my cash to put towards investment Vehicles that are going to generate me a greater than 0% return over the term length of this loan. I use this money to make me more money by taking advantage of the free money with the Buy now, pay Later. But what's the catch? Funny you should ask. Buy Now, Pay later programs are actually paid for by you. Typical payment processors charge you 2 to 4%. Buy now, pay later charges you 8, sometimes upwards of 10%. But you're more than happy to pay for it because, you know, entices consumers like me to spend. Gotcha. But because I follow John's finance tips, I only spend what I need to. And then I borrow money at your expense so that I could use my money to make me more money.
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Okay, he had us in the first half, and then I was like, oh, oh. He's actually explaining that it's a trap. And then he was like, but I use my money to make more money, so I borrow the money. Make it make sense, John. Like, pick a lane, bud. Pick a side. Whose side are you on? He's saying, don't use Buy now, pay later. But also you should borrow money to invest your other money so you don't use that money. My brain just did a backflip. Thank you, Umberto. Someone gets it. Or you could just not get a thousand dollar phone. Danny, I'm confused, okay? I'm glad because I really thought, like, I'm a fairly. I'm not like the smartest guy in any room, but I can understand things at a basic level. And I barely follow John's finance tips and follow for more. Follow for more what? Confusion, bro. How about this? Subscribe to this channel right now and hit the like button because I'm not going to confuse you. You confuse, you lose. All right? That's what I say. Got that on a poster in my house. My wife is confused by that, but okay, whatever. I guess it was a cute skit if nothing else. And also, this is. This is not a knock on John. I just don't trust a guy in a puffy vest. I got trust issues with puffy vests. Not going to do it. You're not going to see me in a puffy. How is your torso? Cold, but everything else needs some more air. Make that make sense. Moving on to bacon eggy Peggy Pew. All right, caption got me out here paying trips off in 36 months. Off to a rocky start. Book that trip. Book that trip and put it on a payment plan. Life is too short. Life is too short to wait for others. Life is too short to not experiencing because you don't have the money right now, baby, put it on the payment plan. Pay that off in 18 months. I don't know. Book the trip. Okay? She's channeling the energy everybody has, like the intrusive thoughts, you know what I mean? That's what she. She's the devil on the shoulder going, you deserve it, babe. Yolo. You could die tomorrow. Might as well go to Europe. Might as well see the Eiffel Tower. And here's the issue with this. It's a false paradigm. What does that mean?
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What does that mean?
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She's saying, book the trip. You never know when you're gonna get this experience again. So just put it on payments and worry about it later. The problem is part lasts a lot longer than the trip part. And so you spend the next six months stressed out, paycheck to paycheck, working a job that you hate because you have to pay the bills while making zero progress on any other financial goal. So, yes, would love for you to travel and see the world, but if you save up for it and pay cash, you'll actually enjoy it more, not less. And I also am concerned about her caption down here. A firm had never let me down. Amen. Is she being paid by a firm for this promotion? That's the question. Is she in cahoots with these buy now, pay later companies? Yeah, I said cahoots. I'm a boomer at heart. Let's see if the comment section's vibing. I never use a firm or klarna. I don't see the point of it. If you can't afford it, don't go. Or start a little side hustle. Just live below your means. That's it. That's the best financial advice I could ever give on this channel. And sadly, it's not popular advice. Cause most people would rather watch this content saying book the trip with expletives, mind you. Not safe for homeschoolers. Unlike this channel. You'll payment plan a car or house. Book that trip. Oh, so now we're saying, well, you have payments everywhere else in your life. Why not add more to the mix, baby? Except a car has some utility and I hate car debt. A house appreciates in value and you build equity. So very different scenarios there. Legit going to Amsterdam in September. Thanks. Affirm. As if they care about you guys. The marketing from these companies is insane. And they'll tell you, hey, you deserve it. You deserve freedom. You deserve to live your life. Don't listen to those other Guys who say you gotta save and budget. Ugh, gross. Put it on a payment plan, worry about it later. Don't like this energy, especially with 11,000 likes. Clearly, people are connecting with. I better get 11,000 likes on this video. Okay, don't let me down, guys. Klarna lost over 100 million in Q1. Now we're talking. Let's go after the real villain here. Let's see how they lost money.
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So Klarner just came out and said, a lot of y' all ain't paying them back and they going broke.
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Not the PNL.
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Their Q1 numbers show they have lost over a hundred million dollars so far in 2025, doubling the amount they lost since the same period the last year. And I swear I've been talking about this for a long time now. These companies are only here out of necessity. People want to be able to buy what they want and not have to pay the cost. 500 sounds so much better when you pay it over two weeks at a time. If you give people the opportunity to overstend their self, they're going to do it every time. I thought we Learned this in 2008. Oh, girl. Yeah, we can go on that trip.
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Yeah.
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What is it? A thousand dollars? Girl, put it on paying for. We gonna be good. Hey, hey, man, just be careful because they'll sell you anything. I'm not even so mad about people, like, extending their payment for, like, bills or necessities, but when you finance a Big Mac, it's just not a good thing. When you finance something like an E bike, something you actually don't need. Not a good idea.
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Now this man, speaking facts, I'm glad he took us out of the muck and the mire that we were stuck in with these last few videos, especially after just watching that. That woman say, book the trip. And he's saying, hey, you're gonna overextend yourself. You're gonna use these payment plans on things that aren't even necessities it used to be. Well, I mean, people can't afford life and bills. They're gonna. They're gonna have to put them on payment plans. And now it's trips. Close Doordash who just partnered with Klarna. Costco partnered with a firm. We're gonna see more and more of this. And it's true. During the first quarter of 2025, Klarna missed out on 136 million in revenue due to what they call consumer credit losses. And the stats bear this out. 41% of buy now Pay later. Users say they paid late in the past year. So riddle me this. If it's so eas payments over time, it's just 10 bucks, it's just 50 bucks. And yet people are falling behind because what they thought they could do, they can't do. Because the bills show up the next month and the next month. And when you add it to your tab, eventually that tab gets really big and really hard to pay. So I'm with this guy. People will overextend themselves when given the opportunity. And yes, we saw this in 2008, but we also saw this in the book of Genesis, okay? Free will doesn't always work out. Humans, left to their own devices, aren't always going to make the best choices. And that's why I have guardrails in my life. I have a set of values I live by. And one of those values is I don't borrow money, full stop. So I don't care what it is. 0% paying off over time. Whatever it is, I'm not buying it. Because I know my life is gonna be better when I own my choices. I own my money. Instead of having to pay someone overtime, I'm gonna leave it there. I don't care what the comments say. Please pay them back, y'. All. We need Klarna. See, this is why I don't read the comment section, but it's one of those car crash things where you're like, I wanna. I wanna see. I hope nobody's hurt, but I want to. I want to get a glimpse at the damage. Their rates are so cheap. Why ain't we paying them back? Omg, I pay my Klarna. Balance button right here. That's the craziest part. If people pay the balance, they go, I won. I'm winning the game. I'm doing pretty good financially compared to all these other people who can't pay. And yet, if you pay your Karna balance every month, you could still be paycheck to paycheck the rest of your life. So it's zero validation that you are winning. What actually shows me you're winning is your savings going up, your investments going up, your peace going up, your stress going down. And none of these payment plans will help you achieve that. All right, let's see what this nice lady has to say. I'm never going to burn my bridges with Klarna. Affirmat afterpay. I'm going to pay them before my car note, my light bill, my water bill, rent, any other bill can wait. But those we are Forever besties. Okay, I'm never burning that. That's it. We're besties. They come before any and everything. She legit said Klarna is bae. And yeah, I said bae.
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What the heck's a bae?
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I know it's not popular. Doesn't matter. I'm using it. I'm bringing it back single handedly. This is the scary part. People actually think like this. And the best thing to do is to cover your four walls first. Which she just told you she doesn't care to cover. She'd rather have her light and water shut off. Get ev before she burns the bridges with these companies that couldn't give a rip about her. She's just an account number to them with slick marketing. So four walls. Here's what that is. Food, utilities, housing, transportation. You pay that before you ever pay any of your debts. And that's coming from me, a guy who says you should pay your debts off. Here's why you want to make sure you protect where you live. We don't want you to be homeless. We want to make sure that you even pay your car payment first so that you can get from A to B and get to work. And then if there's money beyond that, we'll deal with the creditors, we'll deal with the Buy now pay later plans. But that should be the only order you pay your bills in. It's insane to me that you would think otherwise. And I again, I hope this is satire, but you just you don't know on the Internet anymore what is real. Are we living in a simulation? All of my klarna and afterpay are paid off and yet I'm struggling for dear life paying on my credit card. That's what I'm saying. Here's my hot take. If you are using Buy now pay later you are probably making bad decisions in almost every other area of your life. There's likely zero people out there who are completely debt free but choosing to use Buy Now Pay Later. These are people who are already in crippling debt. They have credit cards, they have student loans, they got a big car payment and they can't get any more credit. And so these Buy now pay later companies step in and go, hey, it's okay bud, we got you. We'll spot you. And here's the truth. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found this. From 2021 to 2022, borrowers with deep subprime credit scores, meaning people who have def on their debts. They've terrible credit scores accounted for 45% of buy now, Pay later originations, while those with subprime credit scores were responsible for another 16%. So I don't know any other way to tell you this other than these Buy Now, Pay later companies are predatory scumbags. I said it. You can defend them all you want, saying that they're your savior and that they are bae, but you can't change my mind on this. To bottom line, you should burn your bridges with those companies, just like you should burn your bridges with spammers and scammers who want to buy your personal data from data broker sites. And the best way to do that is by signing up for Deleteme, a sponsor of today's video. And that's because delete Me combs through hundreds of these shady sites and removes your data before it falls into the wrong hands. And you'll never have to guess what they're up to because they send you a customer report every few months, showing you where they've removed your info from and how much time they've saved you. And right now, you can get 20% off their annual plans, which equals roughly $9 a month, by going to joindeleteme.com George. And before we get back to the Buy now, pay later shenanigans, what if I told you there was a super simple way to add margin to your monthly budget? How? By switching phone carriers because you're paying too much. Who? Boost Mobile, a sponsor of today's video. You can unlock savings by signing up for their unlimited plan, which is just $25 a month, forever. And switching could not be easier. You get to keep your number. There's no contracts required, and an added bonus. You can bring your own device. And you know I love a good BYOD. So make the switch today by going to boostmobile.com Ramsey $25 forever requires customers to remain active on Boost Unlimited plan. All right, let's get to this next one, which is somehow from Klarna's own TikTok. They know where to find their people. TikTok?
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Just these, please. Excellent choice, sir. That'll be 35. Is it possible to have them now and pay later? Of course. That's all sorted for you. Thank you very much. Hang on. You're a mayfly, aren't you? Am I? Yeah. You only live for 24 hours. No. You were never gonna pay, were you? Ah, you got me. I knew there was something off. Well, you can't blame a fly for trying. Very clever. How long have you got left? Any?
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Oh, wow. That took a dark turn. I Don't know what corner of the Internet I just visited, but how they're somehow charming and creepy at the same time. This is like live action. Teletubbies is what it's giving. It's like my eyes are glued. The plot's actually pretty good, but none of this makes me comfortable. Wow. Let me see the caption from Klarna here. Klarna's for everyone, except if you're a mayfly. Okay. Adrian Bliss. Yeah, he's a very popular content creator who's now in cahoots with Klarna. But listen, these guys will do anything for a nice paycheck. You think I'm gonna do ads for Klarna? That's what I have to say. Mark's safe. For homeschoolers. You're welcome. But don't try that at home, kids. I'm a professional. Do not give your mom the pinky finger. It's not nice. Your dad will probably think it's funny, though. Just saying. If he's a real one. All right, let's see if anybody else finds this as creepy as I do. The only ad I didn't skip. Very well done. Great marketing call. You are amazing. No, that's sad. Give him it back. The best ad on the app, hands down. I'll give them this. These Buy Now, Pay later companies have some of the best marketing out there, and it's for good reason. They know the better the marketing, the sooner you'll fall for their traps and the more you will spend. And at the end of the day, that's all Buy Now, Pay later does. It allows you to spend money you don't have and spend more than you would have even if you did have the money. And after paying Klarna, brag about this. I mean, on Klarna's own site, I've seen them say to retailers, hey, the average customer is going to spend 45% more in the cart if they use Buy Now, Pay Later. So why wouldn't you plug us into your website? So every retailer in America is obviously going to jump on this trend because they want to see their revenues go up. But here's the thing. None of them actually care about you. Regardless of their marketing. All they want you to do is spend with as little friction as possible, which means it's okay if you don't have the money. And with one click, you just sign into your Klarn account and put it on the tab. Every single time. That's what they want. And I'm asking you to add more friction to your life to actually do a budget and check to see if you have the money and then decide no if you don't. And like, we've covered 99% of the things people are using. These buy now, pay later apps for are not necessities. So even if they're backed into a corner going, I can't cover my bills. They're not using it to cover the light bill. They're using it to buy concert tickets and roller skates. If you want some tips on that. Everydollar is the budgeting app I use to actually get control of my money. Pay attention to it proactively, plan for the month ahead. Highly recommend. I'll drop a link in the description if you want to check it out. I need a palate cleanser. And luckily producer Alex has selected hand selected, curated if you will, a video of his choosing for me to enjoy that hopefully won't make me angry. Let's see what we got. All right, let's check out the caption here first. Toxic level high. How to get dinner in your apartment clean for free. Okay, how to get dinner and your apartment clean for free. Step one, make a fake dating app account and match with your roommate. No. Make plans to have dinner at his place. Tell them you don't like messy apartments. They'll clean the whole place squeaky clean. Then cancel one hour before they'll offer you dinner. Then be a good roommate and take them out. We are closer now like. And follow for more big brain hacks. That is incredible. Wow. So you catfish your own roommate into cleaning the house and making dinner, thinking there's a hot date coming over, and then you cancel on that person and they've already done all the work and now you're there and you're like, what's wrong, bro? And they're like, oh, man, I had a date tonight and I did all this work and you're like, bro, bro, it's okay. Little pat on the back. Man, that food looks so good too. And you cleaned the house. Hey, might as well enjoy it. Appreciate all the work you did. You mind if we have a little dinner together? Well, of course. What are they gonna say? No, they're a jerk. Maybe eat it all to themselves. Save it for leftovers. Probably. But I gotta see is. I'm guessing this guy just makes like viral content. I'm not even gonna go to his profile. Cause I don't like what I see just from the little teaser. Honestly, wouldn't be mad, but I'm also bad at cleaning. Need a roommate. That's step one. You need a roommate who is single and willing to get catfished physical. Can you do that? How easy is it to make a fake dating profile? I don't want to know. Glad I'm married. Best roommate of all time. No catfishing needed. Well, that was fun. Listen, if you had a good time, the fun shouldn't stop here. I recently made this video reacting to people on the Internet going broke in real time. So click here to check it out or use the link in the description. Thanks for watching. Be sure to hit that like button. Hit subscribe if you haven't already. We'll see you next time.
Podcast Summary: George Kamel / Ramsey Network
Episode Title: 23 Minutes Of Buy Now Pay Later Destroying People's Lives
Date: May 22, 2026
Host: George Kamel
This episode dives deep into the real-world impacts—often humorous, sometimes alarming—of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services like Affirm, Klarna, and Afterpay. George Kamel reacts to viral TikToks and online stories, using his signature mix of financial wisdom, sharp humor, and pop culture references to showcase how BNPL can trap consumers in cycles of debt. He breaks down why these services appeal to younger generations, exposes myths promoted by slick marketing, and calls out the predatory nature of BNPL companies.
Highlight: Satirical YSL Loafers Skit
Satire on ‘Using 0% interest to invest’
For more financial sanity-saving episodes, subscribe to George Kamel or check out the EveryDollar budgeting app.