To think if you’re buying luxury goods on Klarna, you can’t afford them?

[ThatHonestOchreSloth]

It’s not classist. It’s just maths.

So you’ve earned £50 for doing absolutely nothing. Why on earth wouldn’t you? You’re saying no to free money. Why would you do that?

Your tying yourself in knots op. Admit you’re envious of someone having something and you started the thread to seek consensus for that feeling of meanness!

Again, for the last bloody time. Neither op nor I are referring to getting into debt for sofas as an issue. It's a sensible decision.

The point is people get into debt for designer items and jewellery etc. And that's plain stupid.

Fair enough. Not sure why you’re quite so cross with me?

@ungratefulcat it's only stupid if the debt is unaffordable, and even then only if it catches up with you.

I know someone who ran up tens of thousands in credit card debt, then did an IVA. Kept all the stuff she bought, was in social housing so no chance of it being repossessed.

Was she stupid? I'm not sure.

Because you seemed to be trying to pick an argument for arguments sake?

This with bells on. The people using this responsibly are few and far between.

Only on MN would you be vilified for thinking Klarna is a bad move. I think it’s quite horrifying how many people think it’s ok or that car finance is in any way acceptable.

caveated by the information that I’m a Dave Ramsey fan, don’t use credit cards, pay cash for cars and think work is the answer to cash flow problems not credit. That will blow many people’s minds on here and I suspect I’m very much in the minority!!

Not at all 🤷‍♀️

Just don’t share your opinion.

Absolute bollocks.

Debt is debt whoever the provider. Sadly it’s sold to poorer people because those better off don’t tend to borrow. Klarna is most certainly aimed at those with limited cash. They even offer it on a takeaway meal. Ethically bankrupt.

Buying luxury items on the never-never is not a good idea. Too many people think they "deserve" luxury when they only work normal jobs.

You seem to know a lot of people who (apparently) openly post about being in debt but then also post about buying luxury items and purchasing them on klarna. Seems rather improbable but even if it is happening, what other people do with their money or their spending is no one else’s business.

Plenty of people live very luxurious lives by living on credit. Our own country is gazillions in debt for starters. It’s not sensible but it’s how the world works.

That's not what the OP was asking though is it? They didn't ask whether Klarna is a moral good in society.

The statement was "If you are buying on Klarna then you can't afford it." Blanket statement. A lot of people on here have proved that the statement is incorrect for them.

You don’t need logic for that, most people can’t afford to buy a house out right.

A mortgage is debt though. Over time house prices in the UK appreciate (sometimes very quickly). However there have been periods of falls where lots of people have ended up in negative equity and ended up losing the lot.

In several other countries, house prices have never returned to their previous highs after a fall.

A lot of people make the quite reasonable choice, if they have the means, to go into that debt rather than rent and pay someone else's mortgage.

Whoever said this is just another version of 'but they've got big TVs' was spot on 😂

If they make all the payments in time then yes they can afford it

But you can afford it so long as you’re paying it back…. Whether that’s paying in one lump sum or over three months. Say there’s an item you need - maybe a washing machine - and it costs £400. Your monthly emergency safety net is only £200. You can easily use Klarna pay in three to purchase a new washer then. As opposed to saving for a couple of months at which point you’d have a mountain of washing to do.

Where’s the problem with that?

Agree

it follows on from the thread earlier this week about trying to look wealthy fails

poor people know your place luxurious are not for you regardless how hard you may work

I don't consider appliances a luxury, I haven't got the time to do by hand, and it's a waste of water and energy not to use a machine

regardless

I have never bought an appliance on credit. If I can't buy it cash, I save first, which means I only buy what I can afford.

It's one of those things characteristic of economy now, that could be used in a sensible way, but the truth no many can be made if it was. There is probably 10-20% of people who can use credit card for points and pay the balance at the end of the month, but the rest pays interest. Same with social media - they wouldn't make money if people were connecting 15 minutes every day to check on their friends, they make money when people start spending half of their life there. Same with UPF, Klarna etc. They are designed to be addictive and they make 80% of their users worse, but the owners concentrate on benefits they bring to remaining 20% and we, as a society, buy into it.

exactly.
there was the same lack of joined up thinking on the recent cost of a meal in a pub thread.
the people who smugly announce that they don't waste money so only eat out 'a few times a year' or 'as a treat on holiday' don't seem to realise that the local people regularly "wasting their money" (i.e. using) the pubs and restaurants are the only reason said places are still open for them to deign to grace them with their presence (and cats bum about how much the prices have gone up since their last yearly pilgrimage) once a year.

Same with all the 'I only ever buy from vinted.' Yep but if other people did the same as you there wouldn't be clothes for you to buy because all the shops would have shut down.

nearly every time someone makes a luxury purchase, c. 20% of that is VAT going back into the economy to benefit the rest of us!

Sorry so people working "normal jobs", (nurses, bus drivers, cashiers?) don't deserve luxury items because?...

And that's all fine for people who can afford to eat out regularly.

I certainly see no virtue in extreme and unnecessary frugality.

But equally the number of grant applications I have seen where people let money just flow out on luxuries like water and then fall on hard times, it's really sobering.

If you are making ends meet, and putting aside a little for a rainy day, then yes by all means have another little savings account to splurge on treats.

But people finding money tight don't need to go around propping up the economy by getting into debt.