For Americans, convenience of buy-now-pay-later services come with risks

Americans get addicted to a lot of things and don't seem to mind taking unnecessary risks for short-term pleasure. It is not sustainable and very self-destructive.

"I'm kind of addicted now," said the young mother in Washington state

…

How about not consuming?

Take full advantage of it, buy what you NEED, and yes pay in instalments ON TIME with ZERO interest, it's the perfect deal.

Now if you can't afford it then DO NOT BUY IT, because it will bite you in the rear end, and you will end up paying double or even triple the original price.

Credit cards are great for as long as you do NOT revolve and pay interest too.

Also never get a credit card that charges annual fees, shop around because there are many that are free.

I can assure everyone there are lots of Americans who don't live paycheck-to-paycheck, have large amounts of savings and ZERO debt (or only home debt) they are servicing. We've always lived below our means. It is something our parents impressed into our financial planning. The last time I had a car loan was 1993 which was paid off at nearly 2x the 36 month payment.

Also never get a credit card that charges annual fees, shop around because there are many that are free.

Good advice for most people, but there are times when an annual fee credit card will more than pay for itself in benefits. For example, I have an airline-branded CC that prevented ~400K FFM from expiring. That was a no brainer and we've been traveling using those miles for a few decades. Some cards come with other benefits - like I got 2 free RT tickets each year, warranties were doubled, immediate loss items were replaced, and a few other perks that other cards didn't provide. I've used the insurance to replace things over 15 times. If I were flying for work 20+ international trips yearly still, the Platinum card benefits would more than make up for the cost.

Lots of Americans pay cash for things or use credit only for convenience and pay the bill, in full, monthly.

All my debt today is in the national debt thanks to Congress not being able to say "no." That sickens me.