Apple Is Discontinuing Apple Pay Later Less Than a Year After It Launched
Just over six months after it was fully released to all US customers, Apple is shutting down its Apple Pay Later installment loan service. In a statement to 9to5Mac , the company said that instead, customers will now see installment loans “offered through credit and debit cards, as well as lenders” at checkout.
Apple Pay Later first began being offered to ” randomly selected ” customers in the US in March 2023 after being announced at WWDC the year before. This feature existed directly in Apple Wallet, and while Apple said it allowed users to apply for credit “without impacting their credit,” the fine print said that credit and payment history “may be reported to credit bureaus and affect their credit.” ” at the time of buying. .
The service follows the launch of Apple Card in 2019, which included an agreement with Goldman Sachs that Apple is apparently seeking to exit . Apple Pay Later was the company’s first attempt to provide its financial services independently through its subsidiary Apple Financing LLC and follows similar services such as Klarna.
Buy now, pay later services have drawn criticism in the past due to hidden costs that could trap needy users into deeper debt , which could influence Apple, with its generally friendly face, to exit the sector.
“Our focus remains on providing our users with access to simple, secure and private payment options with Apple Pay, and this solution will allow us to bring flexible payments to more users, in more places around the world,” Apple said in a statement. .
In addition to accessing loans from credit and debit cards, Apple Pay will now also allow you to access loans from rival Klarna Affirm, according to a recent Apple blog . Like Klarna, Affirm has also come under fire in the past , with critics pointing out that the service’s fancy branding may be behind high interest rates.