Eat now, pay later: Takeaways can now be for on finance

Eat now, pay later: Takeaways can now be bought for on finance with customers able to spread the cost of meals over four equal payments

• Customers can order Deliveroo takeaways using buy-now-pay-later tool Klarna
• Elsewhere, pay-later scheme Clearpay is selling JustEat vouchers on its website
• Critics branded the offers ‘a terrible idea’ with fears shoppers will fall into debt
• But Deliveroo says that it is giving customers ‘more choice and more flexibility’

Britons struggling to pay their way through the cost-of-living crisis are now being offered schemes to order takeaways on finance.

Buy-now-pay-later tool Klarna is now available on food delivery app Deliveroo.

Meanwhile, customers can purchase a gift card for JustEat – another takeaway delivery app – using another shop-now-pay-later service Clearpay.

The Clearpay website gives buyers the option to spread the cost of purchasing between £10 and £50 to use on the app and spread the cost across four equal payments.

But critics have branded the ventures ‘a terrible idea’ and warned that vulnerable customers could fall further into debt. 

Dominic Arnall, chief executive of charity Just Like Us, said: ‘Even as a plot for a dystopian novel, food on hire purchase would be laughably ghoulish.’

 Buy-now-pay-later tool Klarna is now available on food delivery app Deliveroo. (Pictured – Melora wrote on Twitter: ‘They have added Klarna to Deliveroo – that is a terrible idea.’)

Carlo Mocci, chief business officer at Deliveroo, said: ‘Millions of people are already choosing Klarna and we’re giving customers more choice and more flexibility with a safe, secure way to pay online.’

Damian Okeyo Omondi wrote: ‘What stage of normalising food poverty are we at now?’

Another user added: ‘Imagine you can’t get a mortgage coz of bad credit from having McDonalds and Pound Bakery on finance’

Javk Donovan wrote: ‘Just seen Klarna is on Deliveroo. I don’t know who needs to hear this but if you haven’t got the money for a takeaway, you really shouldn’t be making your struggles worse with Klarna’

Melora said: ‘They have added Klarna to Deliveroo – that is a terrible idea.’

Salman Abid added: ‘Paying for takeaway with Klarna is crazy.’

When completing an order on the Deliveroo app, which boasts millions of users, Klarna pops up as a delivery option alongside credit, debit card and PayPal.

It’s not clear if the option is available for all of Deliveroo’s 160,000 restaurants.

Labour’s Stella Creasy, MP for Walthamstow, said the ‘myth’ of buy-now-pay-later firms is that they make it seem like consumers are spreading the cost – but end up in more debt.

She is calling for regulation in the industry.

Ms Creasy said: ‘The myth of buy-now-pay-later is that you are spreading costs – companies offer this form of credit because it means consumers spend more, and thus increase the cost to them and the risk of debt.

‘Without any regulation of these practices there’s no one who can help you if you are mis-sold credit.

‘We urgently need the Government to make good on the promise to regulate and bring the ombudsman in to stop these companies pushing more debt on cash strapped consumers in the cost of living crisis.’

As well as takeaway food, alcohol, cigarettes, toiletries and other groceries can be purchased through some stores on the app.

And while Klarna doesn’t affect a customer’s credit score, according to its website: ‘Information such as payment holidays and existing, late and unpaid balances is visible on your credit file to other lenders.’

According to Deliveroo, customers who choose to order using Klarna will have three options; pay the full amount immediately, pay the full amount within 30 days; and pay in three equal instalments spread over 60 days for orders over £30.

David Sykes, chief commercial officer at Klarna, said: ‘Deliveroo provides a great service to households, and that’s why we’re excited to offer our alternative payment options to Deliveroo customers.

‘We believe you should only pay for what you buy with no interest or fees, and it’s never been more important for consumers to have access to payment options which help them stay in control of their finances.’

Carlo Mocci, chief business officer at Deliveroo, said: ‘Deliveroo offers choice to our customers, from neighbourhood eateries and your weekday lunch to a Saturday night celebration. 

‘Millions of people are already choosing Klarna and we’re giving customers more choice and more flexibility with a safe, secure way to pay online.’

Just Eat does not have any buy now, pay later options on its platform and does not have a direct partnership with Clearpay. 

Just Eat says its gift cards are bought and stocked by hundreds of retailers.

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