It is becoming clear that the existing credit licence holders are wanting BNPL providers to be brought to heel by the government. Westpac is the most vocal, despite having a very aggressive BNPL product campaign of its own and MoneyMe also supports the toughest 3rd option, whereas NAB has a full on pay in 4 and supports the 2nd option. IMO the 3rd option won't fly but if it does there will be dramas

Monday, January 16, 2023

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MoneyMe warns of ‘massive blind spot’ in credit scoring without BNPL BUSINESS regulation

BNPL products such as Afterpay are currently largely unregulated. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

By JOYCE MOULLAKIS

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12:00AM JANUARY 16, 2023

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MoneyMe supports capturing buy now, pay later in the same regulatory net as other credit products, saying it would level the playing field and plug credit score “blind spots”.

The non-bank lender’s chief executive, Clayton Howes, said lenders were often making decisions about a customers’ ability to repay without knowing their BNPL debts, because BNPL players were not compelled to provide credit reporting data.

“There’s a massive blind spot so it’s an inconsistent approach to thinking about a customer’s financial credit worthiness,” he said. “We don’t know about their buy now, pay later account … we don’t know that they may be behind. We may lend them money to pay off their buy now, pay later account which is credit for credit.”

The government is assessing three options to regulate the BNPL sector, as other markets such as New Zealand and the UK clamp down on the industry.

MoneyMe supports Treasury’s third option which seeks to regulate the industry in the same way as other credit products. That requires players to hold a licence and conduct responsible lending checks to assess whether a customer can afford repaym