Millennials who want the best of everything right now are financing the purchase of everything from concert tickets to bedsheets. If they don’t have the cash and don’t want to use a credit card, they’re turning to finance companies, which is often an even more expensive method of repayment.
Franck Cushner, president of Ensemble Financial, says millennials have a want-it-now attitude because the Internet has put the world at their fingertips. But often they don’t understand how to use credit properly. “Other than student loans,” he points out, “a lot of times they haven’t been raised to understand what credit is, and how it works, and how it affects them positively and negatively.”
Cushner says online financing has made everything available. “It’s a lot easier for them to use things like Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, all these different devices now that allow them to pay without a credit card,” he says. “It’s still basically kind of the same thing.” And their interest rates, Cushner points out, can be “substantially higher than many credit cards.”
Cushner says a millennial with a large amount of student debt may see financing small purchases as just a drop in the bucket. He recommends young people avoid that trap. “Save early and don’t overspend,” he advises. “You just get yourself in such a big hole when you try to finance things that you probably shouldn’t buy. If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it.”