Use of BNPL for groceries raises red flags, says Citizens Advice

The research, from charity Citizens Advice, also found some are relying on the service more than others. It discovered that young people, those in debt and those claiming Universal Credit are at least twice as likely to have used BNPL for essentials. 

To gain these findings, the organisation commissioned a 6,000 person nationally representative poll of UK adults by researcher ICM - of which 1,124 people have used BNPL in the past 12 months. ICM also interviewed a sample of 1,641 Universal Credit recipients. 

Typically BNPL is advertised as a way of splitting or delaying payments on products such as clothing or electronics. However, Citizens Advice is becoming particularly worried about the rise of firms offering the service for food shopping over the past few years. 

It’s something the charity’s frontline advisers have been raising red flags on. Some of the problems that they’re seeing include a parent who used BNPL to buy baby clothes while waiting for a benefit payment and someone in debt using BNPL for the weekly food shop. 

Commenting on the research, Citizens Advice’s chief executive Dame Clare Moriarty said: “The fact that people are turning to BNPL for their groceries really hammers home the urgent need for industry regulation.

“As living costs spiral, we fear more people in desperate situations will see this unregulated form of credit as the answer. The government must keep pace with these firms and ensure consumers are protected.”