Buy now, pay later for household repairs

Why do things never break when it’s convenient?

We’ve all been there: the washer broke two weeks before you get paid, you need to pay for an engineer to fix your oven's faulty gas pipe, or your shower sprung a leak (creating a sizeable hole in your kitchen ceiling) four days before Christmas.

If you don’t have any savings, credit cards can come in handy to tide you over in an emergency.

But not everyone has, or wants, one. What do you do then?

Flexible payments

Well, now there’s another option from an unlikely source – and it doesn’t involve borrowing from friends or family.

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) provider Klarna has swooped in to save the day for many by partnering with small business platform Xero.

The partnership means smaller firms will be able to accept payments from those wanting to spread their costs for vital household repairs, such as plumbers or heating engineers.

Klarna says they’ll check eligibility before approving each purchase as well as reminding you to stay on top of your payments.

Not just for clothes

Most of us will associate Klarna with buying clothes or shoes, but their chief commercial officer, David Sykes, says things are changing.

He explained:

“This partnership brings Klarna’s flexible payment options to micro businesses of all kinds so business owners can get paid on time and their customers can choose how and when to pay.

“Plumbers and heating engineers using Xero can fix their customers’ boilers and let them spread the cost while small businesses involved in the construction industry could spread the cost of smaller projects over three interest-free instalments.”

One less thing to worry about?

The introduction of BNPL for unexpected necessities has potential to ease money worries for many.

Although it’s a loan, you’re not charged interest and paying in instalments can make it easier to afford things. But this can lead to debt if you’re not careful, and you don’t have many rights if things go wrong because BNPL isn't currently unregulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.

Like other types of borrowing, it has pros and cons that you should think about first – find out more in our BNPL guide, including what to do if you can’t make a payment.

If you’re worried about any BNPL debts getting on top of you, we might be able to help with our free and impartial debt advice.