5 BNPL Myths the South African Market has Proven Wrong

Skeptics often view Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) as a debt risk, but South African consumers are using the tool as a sophisticated budgeting strategy.

Payflex CMO Tracey-Lee Zürcher-Campbell, “With 41% of respondents to TransUnion’s Q1 2026 Consumer Pulse Study indicating that they have used Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services in the past year, the popularity and growth of BNPL among consumers is not in dispute.

“However,” says Zürcher-Campbell, “there are still fundamental misunderstandings about how local consumers and merchants use BNPL.”

She debunks 5 of these myths here:

Myth #1. BNPL is used by South Africans who are already overextended