‘I have to use Afterpay to buy food for my family and I’m so embarrassed’

A mum's post has gone viral after she revealed her struggle to pay for basic necessities in the midst of the cost-of-living crisis... she was shocked to find that many people were in the same boat.

“Embarrassed AF, but has anyone else used Afterpay to buy groceries?” a mum posted anonymously on a popular Facebook budgeting group.

The mum was struggling with finances and had decided to turn to the buy-now-pay-later loan service so that she could afford to feed her family.

From her post, it was clear the mum felt like her situation was rare, but commenters quickly showed her that she wasn’t alone and had plenty of advice on how best to use the service.

“I do it all the time!” one supportive person commented. “It’s saved my butt many times. Nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“More times than I would like to admit,” said another woman. “So thankful when it was an option when needed.”

“Hell yeah! Not even ashamed. I actually do it through ZIP pay and move money around. Who cares,” a third person said.

“Been there done that more than once and will do it again if I need to feed my family,” another person wrote.

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The woman was struggling with her finances, so she turned to a short-term Afterpay loan to buy food. Photo: iStock

Mums use Afterpay to pay for Woolworths gift cards

Rather than using Afterpay directly for food shopping, many mums said they used it to pay for gift cards at Woolworths and Coles and used those towards their shopping.

“You can buy a gift card with Afterpay and then they will send the barcode to your email and you use it in store,” one woman wrote.

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“I do this all the time, it’s a great way to budget for us,” said another. “I buy Woolies gift cards and have less of an outlay. I’m not embarrassed.”

“Woolies or Coles gift cards can be bought on the Afterpay app – the first instalment has to be paid upfront, but if it means you can turn $50 into $200 and feed your family on a tight week, so be it.”

Some commenters warned the mum of the pitfalls of borrowing money and suggested other ways she could pay for food.

“We do it often but be careful,” one mum warned. “It can become a cycle of paying it back and then being short and doing it all over again."

“Rather than get into more debt, use food banks for a while,” one person suggested.

After reading all the supportive comments and shows of solidarity, the mum updated the post.

“I love you all and thanks for not kicking a girl when she’s down. From the bottom of my heart, you’re all darlings,” she wrote.

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What is Afterpay?

Afterpay is one of many buy-now-pay-later apps offering people short-term loans that allow them to purchase goods with 25 percent up front. The remaining balance is typically paid over three more payments in a specified time frame.

Shoppers receive the product when they make their first payment, (one-quarter of the entire price) and then pay the item off in fortnightly repayments over a six or eight week period.

Other similar services in Australia include ZIP Pay, Pay in 4, Klarna and Payright.

The popular short-term loans are gaining traction with many online shops including buy-now-pay-later options on their check-out page, and others offering their own version of the service.

It can be useful if finances are tight, or if a lay-buy-style payment plan is easier on budgeting, but there are pitfalls. If using Afterpay becomes normal practice, payments can stack up, resulting in high monthly repayments. And although Afterpay does not charge interest, if buyers miss payments, they face late payment penalties which can get expensive.

“For each order of $40 or above, an initial $10 partial late fee is charged, and a further partial late fee of $7 if the payment remains seven days after the due date,” the Afterpay terms of service reads.

“This approach will continue and the total of the late fees that may apply are capped at 25 percent of the original order value or $68, whichever is less.”

Originally published as ‘I have to use Afterpay to buy food for my family and I’m so embarrassed’