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Apple is discontinuing its fee- and interest-free “Buy Now, Pay Later” program less than a year after its general launch.
In a statement to 9to5Mac on Tuesday and a statement to CNBC on Monday, Apple announced that it has discontinued Apple Pay Later, a U.S.-only program that allowed users to apply for credit between $50 and $1,000 directly from the Wallet app on their iPhone.
The program, which became widely available in the U.S. in October, gave borrowers the option to repay the loan in four installments over six weeks, with no fees or interest.
According to Apple, Apple Pay Later will no longer be available starting this week.
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A new option for personal financing is set to take its place later this year: installment loans offered through lenders, credit cards and debit cards.
“The ability to access credit and debit card installment payments with Apple Pay will initially roll out in Australia with ANZ, in Spain with CaixaBank, in the UK with HSBC and Monzo, and in the US with Citi, Synchrony and issuers with Fiserv,” Apple said in an update last week.
Apple added that US users will also have the option to apply for credit through third-party company Affirm when paying with Apple Pay.
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More than half of U.S. consumers know the name Affirm. Apple Pay Later logo on MacBook and iPhone screens. Photo by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images
Apple executives initially touted Apple Pay Later as a useful tool for personal financial planning.
The advantage was the flexible payments; in addition, applying for an Apple Pay Later loan had no impact on creditworthiness.
“Apple Pay Later was designed with our users’ financial health in mind,” said Jennifer Bailey, Apple’s vice president of Apple Pay and Apple Wallet, in March 2023.
Anyone who still has an active Apple Pay Later loan can repay it through the Apple Wallet app.
Apple Pay Later loans were supported by Apple and made possible through the Mastercard installment program.
Related: Apple launches Apple Card savings account from Goldman Sachs
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