Consumer advocate groups are calling for the Federal Government to regulate the buy now, pay later industry.
Companies such as Afterpay, Zip and Humm are among the fastest-growing in finance, but recent inquiries have found there are serious shortcomings for some customers.
Government corporate watchdog, ASIC, found one in five customers had missed a payment, had gone without essentials because they’d overspent and had missed other major bills including household payments.
The Financial Rights Legal Centre, Financial Counselling Australia, the Consumer Action Legal Centre and CHOICE want the government to follow the lead of the United Kingdom which recently announced it would regulate the industry.
In a media release today, the groups said they see "the harm BNPL services cause first-hand. This includes an increasing number of people who end up in unaffordable debt through them, poor industry hardship practices and excessive late fees."