In Britain, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) schemes are one of the fastest-growing ways people especially online). Most retail websites offer BNPL options with companies such as Klarna, Clear pay, and Lay buy, which offer shoppers instant credit with the ability to pay in installments, typically interest-free. In 2021, there were 130 BNPL companies. The pitch peddlers positioned BNPL as a goofy acronym for a convenience enabling debt-wracked consumers to finance their lifestyles without accruing interest – achievements that mainstream credit cards and payday loans had already shown were vulnerable to exploitation and manipulation. But this pitch is rapidly giving way to another more seductive and (ironically) more traditional path that paints BNPL services as a prime catalyst for the kinds of debt-trap situations engineered by credit cards and payday loans for the past several decades.

This recent surge, especially among younger consumers, reflects broader shifts in how we budget our money. Still, it also underscores a recurring debate about debt: as BNPL increases in use, are consumers at risk of falling into crippling debt because of the accessibility of credit? As BNPL becomes an increasingly important part of the retail and credit sector, it is imperative to consider how this trend shapes consumer behavior and the financial future in the UK.

The Appeal of BNPL

Its key selling point is its convenience and accessibility. When consumers can push payment for as long as desired, BNPL becomes an enabler of financial freedom. Shoppers might defer payments for large-ticket purchases or when liquidity conditions are strained. The frictionless nature of BNPL is highly appealing, as several payment options are built right into the checkout process at leading e-commerce sites. The size of BNPL has ballooned during the pandemic, as online shopping soared.

BNPL Debt: A Growing Concern

But businesses have grown accustomed to this debt. For users, BNPL can feel like a harmless way to budget spending, enticed by the lack of interest and stringent credit checks. Popular usage also supports this, with Facebook research indicating that 80 percent of users have used BNPL for affordable everyday expenses. However, Citizens Advice’s study raised this as a red flag, finding that debt collectors had pursued 10 percent of UK BNPL users for missed repayments. Younger consumers disproportionately represent this number. Since BNPL services often target the financially immature, they’re also likely to have little appreciation for the long-term implications, allowing erosion of their credit score and financial health without their full awareness.

BNPL plans largely eschew the hard affordability checks that come with traditional credit, and multiple plans may be taken out in quick succession, which increases the likelihood of overspending. Missed payments lead to late fees and can all too readily tank the consumer’s credit rating.

The Future of BNPL

While BNPL has accelerated rapidly to the top of the pile, regulatory bodies are catching up; the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has proposed tighter regulation for BNPL providers to ensure that consumers are not falling into a debt trap by agreeing to installment plans with little or no creditworthiness checks. They envisage improved transparency, more stringent controls, and clearer terms and conditions, among other measures.

Looking forward, BNPL services will evolve with such regulations. BNPL providers are expected to start offering more protections to consumers and upfront information explaining the risks. Simultaneously, we might see consumers becoming more informed about the nature of BNPL debt, which could, in turn, lead to more mindful borrowing.

Conclusion

Until that happens, Buy Now Pay Later schemes may continue their widespread practice of promoting financialization at an unprecedented scale, with associated risks for consumers, whether extravagant buyers or those hesitant to take on ordinary credit. Rising public anxieties about BNPL debt could prompt more robust regulatory reforms, changes that would provide greater financial protection for consumers. Until then, BNPL remains an innovative financial service that must be weighed up rationally by potentially insidious, sometimes long-term implications of their purchase.

If you’ve noticed that the exterior of your home doesn’t look as crisp and clean as it once did, it might be time to think about repairing the exterior of your home and sprucing up the facade a bit. However, undertaking this task can be a lot, so it’s important that you know what you’re getting yourself into before you get started, even if you’re hiring someone else to do the painting for you.

To help you with this, here are three things to consider when choosing to repaint your house.

Time Of Year And Weather

Because the painting of the exterior of your home is something that’s done outside, the time of year and the weather at the time of painting is going to have a big impact on this project.

Any type of water can wreak havoc on your plans for painting your home. Even just having your sprinklers turn on in the middle of the job can be a mess to clean up. So if you’re planning to repaint your home, try to choose a few days where there’s no rain forecasted. Additionally, if you can plan to paint during a time of year where it isn’t too cold and there isn’t going to be too much humidity, the painting process should go much more smoothly for you.

Home And Neighborhood Style

Once you know when you should be painting, you then need to figure out how you want the finished product of your home to look after you’ve completed the paint job.

While some people might be able to choose whatever color or aesthetic they want, if you have an HOA or neighborhood association, you may only have a few colors that you can choose from for the painting of your house. But regardless of this, unless you’re choosing the restyle your entire exterior, you should try to choose paint colors that will look great with the existing decor that you have in and around your home.

The Safety Consideration

When you’re attempting to paint your home yourself, there are going to be a lot of safety precautions that you’ll want to take. Especially if your home is tall or has a steep pitch to the roof, you’ll need to make sure that you have put certain safety measures in place so that you and anyone else working on the painting will be safe.

To do this, you’ll want to use safe ladders and have someone below you to spot you, you may want to use ropes to ensure that you can’t fall off the roof when up there to paint, and you’ll want to make sure you have enough supplies so that you don’t need to go up and down too much and put yourself in unnecessary danger.

If you’re tasked with repainting your house, consider using the tips to help you do this the right way.

A US IP address lets you do lots of things on the web – the most important one being that you can unblock US entertainment anywhere in the world.

But how do you actually get a US IP address? That’s the difficult part, right?

Not really – there are a few online tools that let you change your IP address.

But now comes the next big question – are they free?

Some IP changing tools are free, but we don’t recommend using them. We’ll tell you why in this article.

First Things First – Which Online Tools Get You an IP Address?

To change your IP address, you need to use one of these tools:

• VPNs – Using a VPN is good way to change your IP address. It’s an online tool that routes your connections through a VPN server. Any website you visit will think your traffic is coming from the VPN server, so it will only see its IP. To get a US IP address, you need to connect to a US server.
• Proxies–Proxies work just like VPNs. They also change your IP by sending your connections through servers that sit between you and the web. But unlike a VPN, a proxy doesn’t encryption your traffic, so it can’t secure it.

We usually recommend using a VPN instead of a proxy because it’s more secure since it uses encryption. That way, it can protect you from traffic eavesdropping and MITM attacks.

Can You Get a US IP Address for Free?

Yes, you can get a US IP for free – but we really don’t recommend doing that. While there are free VPNs and proxies out there, they’re not worth it.

After all, how could an online service offer you a good experience for free? To offer US IP addresses, the service needs to rent servers in the US. Also, they need to rent servers with enough bandwidth so that people don’t deal with slow speeds. That gets expensive very fast.

We ran multiple tests with free and paid IP changers. We always had a better experience with a paid service. Here’s why:

• Free tools are always slower than paid tools because the servers don’t have enough bandwidth. In our tests, we experienced 60-70% slowdowns with free proxies and VPNs, and only 20-30% slowdowns with paid services.
• With free tools, you have to put up with monthly or daily data caps. On average, you’re limited to 500 MB or 2 GB of data each month. If you want to stream HD content on Netflix, that’s barely enough for a few episodes of your favorite TV series!
• Free proxy and VPNs might give you a US IP, but it won’t be very helpful. Streaming sites have an easy time blocking free IP changers because they don’t refresh their IP addresses very fast. So you should get used to seeing the Netflix proxy error if you use a free proxy or VPN.
• With free services, the apps you get are usually buggy and don’t work well. We had to deal with features that are non-functional, random crashes, and text that’s not aligned right.
• Free tools are usually missing important features. For example, a free VPN might not have encryption, secure and fast protocols like WireGuard and OpenVPN, or a kill switch (a feature that shuts down your Internet access if the VPN connection drops).
• Free providers don’t have the money to pay for good customer service. You either have no way of contacting the provider, or you have to deal with email support that takes very long to respond (over 72 hours). With paid services, you usually get 24/7 live chat support.

All in all, it’s obvious that free IP changers just aren’t worth it – they don’t deliver on their promises and just don’t work well.

Plus, Paid Services Aren’t That Expensive!

Not all paid IP changers cost a lot. For example, many paid VPNs have very cheap long-term plans (they cost around $2-4 per month on average).

What’s more, many paid providers have money-back guarantees (30-day refunds are the industry standard). So you basically buy with no risk!

Can You Get a US IP for Free with Tor (The Onion Router)?

Yes, it’s possible to get a US IP free of charge if you use Tor – it’s a privacy network that hides your IP and is free to use. You just have to download and install the Tor browser (which is free) to use it.

But using Tor to change your IP isn’t very straightforward. Unlike a VPN or proxy, you don’t just pick a server location from a list and call it a day. Instead, you need to keep refreshing the Tor connection until the exit server (the last server your traffic passes through) is from the US. Sometimes, we were lucky enough to get a US exit server on the first try. But, other times, it took us 10+ tries to do that.

And that’s not the only issue with Tor – it’s also extremely slow. When we ran tests, we saw 80-90% slowdowns (even bigger than our slowdowns with free proxies and VPNs). The slowdowns are so big because:

• Tor encrypts your traffic at least three times. That makes your data very heavy, and it takes longer to transport it to its destination.
• Tor doesn’t have enough servers to meet its user base’s demand. Right now, there are around 6,000+ servers and over two million Tor users, so people struggle to get the bandwidth they need.

All in all, if you want a US IP to unblock content, Tor isn’t a good solution – stick with a VPN instead.

The Bottom Line

Using a free service to get a US IP address is just not worth it. It’s much better to use a paid tool – the speeds are faster, there are no data limits, and you can actually unblock streaming services.

How do you feel about free vs. paid IP changers? Please let us know in the comments.

Do you regularly send employees on lengthy business trips? If so, you likely realize how quickly the costs add up. Thus, you might be seeking a cheaper accommodation option than a traditional hotel in 2021. For instance, you might have considered booking extended-stay hotel rooms for your workers. However, the reality is, you can save the most money by going the corporate housing route, according to business expert Brian Ferdinand in a recently released article. Let’s take a look at the differences between extended-stay hotels and corporate housing for business travelers.

The Drawbacks of an Extended-Stay Hotel

Extended-stay hotels were created to cater to travelers who needed lengthier stays than they would normally have in regular hotels. Some extended-stay hotel rooms offer basic amenities designed to make the rooms feel like home. For instance, they come with refrigerators, microwaves, and stoves. However, these homey touches usually end here.

With an extended-stay hotel, employees may end up having to purchase their own eating and cooking utensils. On top of this, their rooms might be small, and they’ll be forced to do all of their laundering in a room that other hotel guests share with them. In addition, extended-stay hotel guests might not have guaranteed, free parking spaces.

In light of the above, even when employees stay in the best extended-stay hotels available, they might still yearn for the comforts of home.

The Advantages of Corporate Housing

In his recent article, Brian Ferdinand explains that a top-tier corporate housing unit, which is generally like a furnished apartment, generally doesn’t cost any more than your typical Airbnb home does. However, it is a lot homier and more luxurious than extended-stay hotels are. In fact, when one of your employees stays in a corporate housing unit, he or she will no doubt feel as though he or she is at home.

Corporate housing units come equipped with the appliances that guests are generally used to using at their own homes. In addition, guests can take advantage of private yards when they stay in residential-area corporate housing units. Corporate housing units also come with designated parking as well as stylish interiors.

Unfortunately, many employers underestimate or simply don’t realize the benefits and value of the corporate housing unit option. However, as more employers begin to understand what these units have to offer, they will likely book these accommodations at higher rates in the months and years to come.

The kitchen is one place in the home where many people tend to gather on a regular basis. Whether it’s to eat a meal together, prep food, or clean, it’s not uncommon for the kitchen to be one of the most used areas of a house. And because of this, it’s also one of the most disorganized and dirty areas of a house as well. But with a little effort, you can overcome these obstacles.

To help you in doing this, here are three tips for cleaning and reorganizing your kitchen.

Start With Your Fridge

If you’re ready to get your kitchen cleaned and organized, Caren Baginski and Molly Miller, contributors to HGTV.com, recommend that you start with the fridge. Once your fridge is cleaned out and organized, it can make tackling the rest of your kitchen seem that much easier.

As you take on this project, you’ll likely want to start by removing everything so that you can see what you’re working with. Once everything is out, wipe down all the surfaces so you can avoid issues with pests in the future. Then, as you put everything back in, try to place your most frequently used items closest to the front of the fridge and the items you don’t use as often at the back. This will make it easier for you to keep things organized and not have to take your whole fridge apart to get what you need everyday.

Get Rid Of Superfluous Items

In most kitchens, there’s at least a few items that are being stored there but aren’t actually being used there. To deal with this issue, you’ll want to go through everything in your kitchen in order to get rid of anything superfluous.

To determine this, Elizabeth Larkin, a contributor to The Spruce, recommends that you start by getting rid of anything that you’ve never used, that you don’t use often, or that is broken. In many instances, these items can either be thrown away, donated, or stored somewhere else so they’re not taking up the valuable real estate in your kitchen.

Use Inserts And Shelves

For many people, there never seems to be enough kitchen storage. But luckily, this can usually be easily remedied.

According to Michael Jaccarino, a contributor to LifeHack.org, you can and should use things like drawer inserts and risers to better organize your shelves and drawers and get everything to fit neatly. Not only will things look better, but it will be so much easier for you to find things as well.

If you’re needing to clean and reorganize your kitchen, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you with this task.

When looking for the car accident attorney San Diego that is perfect for what you need, the Lawyer directory is the best tool to have. Our index contains skilled and fair professional to assist you with your legal condition.

You don’t contain to bound yourself to just your restricted region. Feel free to broaden your search to surrounding areas and cities such as. Expanding your search gives you a larger selection of qualified attorneys from which to choose. Contact Brad Nakase if you need local seo for lawyers San Diego

Can an insurance company control defending a lawsuit? Insurance claims are filed daily; many receive compensation, but others do not. When a claim is denied, the owner can choose to sue the insurance company, or the victim sometimes chooses to start a lawsuit against the insured. The defense of insurance serves to protect the interests of the party or parties that are being sued.

The role of insurance

People and companies who want to protect themselves from financial losses can purchase insurance.  The party purchasing the insurance is called the insured or policy holder. Holders pay monthly, quarterly or yearly premiums to ensure that if something happens to the insured asset, they will receive compensation.

Types of insurance

There are different types of insurance.

People are more familiar with auto insurance. Compensation for property damage, medical expenses and other losses incurred in a car accident.

Homeowners insurance provides protection against floods, tornadoes, and fires. It also offers compensation to homeowners if they break into your home to steal or people injured on the property.

Companies often have property insurance to protect themselves from potential claims and lawsuits, such as those based on facility liability.

Health insurance pays for certain medical expenses.

Life insurance provides monetary benefits to the designated beneficiary when the insured dies.

There are many other types of insurance products, such as malpractice insurance for lawyers, medical providers, accountants, and other professionals. The benefit provided to the insured in the event of loss varies according to the type of insurance policy and its terms and conditions.

Fatal Car accident lawyer understand the significant challenges that crash victims often face in obtaining compensation for medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering.

Are You Suffering From a Car Accident Injury?

A car accident can ruin your entire life. More than just damage to your vehicle, a crash can cause serious and debilitating injuries, rob you of your ability to work or enjoy the things you liked, and even claim the life of a loved one.

Experienced Car Accident Lawyers

Our auto accident attorneys have successfully handled thousands of auto injury cases. We have raised millions of dollars for those whose lives have been affected by the neglect of another driver.

When we take your case, you can trust the ability of your car accident attorney and the resources of our firm to properly handle all aspects of your case, from dealing with insurer adjusters, settlement negotiations, to mediation for preparing for a jury trial.

The Types of Car Accident Cases We Handle May Include

• Auto / Motorcycle Accidents
• Auto / Bicycle Accidents
• Front Shocks
• Chain Reaction Accidents
• Accidents Caused by Disabled Driver
• Shocks by Scope
• Car Accidents Using UBER
• Side Crash Accidents
• Drunk Driving Accidents
• Accidents Caused by Speeding
• Fatal Car Accidents
• Crashes of Hit and Run
• Climate Related Shocks
• Distracted Driving Accidents

Some concepts for which we can fight to claim:

• Medical expenses
• Lost wages
• Loss of Ability to Earn a Living
• Physical Pain and Suffering
• Mental Anguish / Emotional Suffering
• Loss of Coexistence (lawsuits filed by spouses or children)
• Property Damage

In each case, we carefully consider all the facts to identify any potential defendant and the full extent of the damages. This allows us to file claims in a way that maximizes compensation.

Massachusetts Crash Statistics

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that there are approximately 6.3 million automobile accidents reported by police nationwide each year. Within these, about 35,000 people die and almost 2.5 million are injured.

This means that nearly 100 people are killed in traffic crashes daily in the United States. This has an economic cost in the nation of $ 242 billion, which includes loss of productivity, job losses, medical expenses, legal and court expenses, property damage, emergency medical services and administration costs of insurers. When we consider the quality of life assessment – the intangible value that results particularly from serious injury or wrongful death – that federal figure rises to about $ 840 trillion.

#1. Severe penalty

The first reason, of course, is that it is the law. Except for Virginia that does not require car insurance, but if you don’t you must pony up a $500 uninsured fee, New Hampshire, which does not require drivers to carry auto insurance but requires them to be responsible for paying the costs of an accident, or in the case of Mississippi, you can post and heavy bond in lieu of obtaining car insurance, every other state in the nation requires you to have at least a minimum level of collision insurance.

In most states, the penalty is severe for not having car insurance. Typically a fine of up to $1,000 and loss of your driver’s license for a year. Deleware has the most severe fines, between $1500 and $2000, but several states such as New York, South Dakota, and Kansas can actually impose imprisonment.

#2. Avoiding lawsuits

There are many reasons why getting car insurance, particularly comprehensive car insurance is really worth to you as a consumer.

There are thousands of lawsuits filed every year by attorneys on behalf of clients who have been injured in automobile accidents. Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Hawaii, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Utah are no-fault states.

No-fault means that each person is responsible for their own insurance. It doesn’t mean that you can’t sue in an accident, but you can do so only for actual damages above a certain threshold. And there are no provisions for pain and suffering.

Regardless of the state, most financial and insurance experts recommend having far more than the minimum amount of state coverage. Typically at least $100,000 worth of liability up to around $250,000 is recommended.

#3. Repairing your own car

If you are lucky and you get into an auto accident, the best scenario is to have insurance that will pay to have your own car fixed. The average claim just to repair a vehicle in a crash is around $3.200, and that was in 2013. Today that figure probably is closer to $4,000.

Insurance that covers your own car regardless of whether someone else was at fault and had insurance or not may run you a few hundred more dollars per year, but with the average new car costing around $36.000 and larger pick-up trucks and luxury vehicles running nearly $60,000, can you afford to go without it.

#4. You lease or finance a car

If you lease or finance a car, and over 85 per cent is financed, your lender will almost certainly require you to have auto insurance. And that won’t be the minimum state coverage. Your lender will almost always require you to carry liability insurance, collision insurance, and comprehensive insurance (often termed “full coverage”).

If you start out with full insurance but drop your insurance down to the minimum or even drop car insurance altogether (say in the case of losing your job for example,) it will be a violation of the conditions of your lease or loan.

The lienholder may choose to cancel your loan altogether, take back the vehicle or both and charge you huge fees for doing so, or they may choose to keep the arrangement in place and insure the car on their own, in the form of forced placed insurance, which they will add to your loan or lease premium.

5. To protect your assets

Although the average car settlement in court is around $30,000, it is not uncommon for court cases to settle for one million dollars or more. Particularly when an injury is involved and a child will be disabled for life.

Unfortunately, the law in most jurisdictions assigns blame, and if you have a home, property, and business, it could all vanish settling a major lawsuit without enough insurance.

6. Protecting your passengers

Having medical payments and personal injury insurance is underrated and unappreciated. Nearly 3 million people are injured in car accidents each year and nearly 2 million experienced a permanent injury.

Whether you are driving the local cheerleading squad, or just taking your best friend for coffee, you want to have insurance to get medical coverage for yourself, both long term and short term, and your passengers.

7. Insurance isn’t just for collisions

Nearly 750,000 cars are stolen in the United States every year. And to say that once the police find your car that it is without damage is wishful thinking. Many thieves literally beat the hell out of cars they steal. Others, who take them to chop shops, literally take them apart piece by piece because it is easier to sell stolen parts than an entire car.

Protecting your car against theft, vandalism, and the fire is a must.

Each year fraudsters who replicate pieces of ancient art and antiques from civilizations gone by make millions of dollars for their work and sadly there are many who get caught out and end up buying something which they believe to be real, in many cases not even realizing that it is a fake until too late. So how can you possibly avoid something like this happening if you find a coin that you think is the real deal? To help us with some tips on what you can be doing to minimize your chances of getting caught out, I caught up with my friend Sally from the Sadigh Gallery in New York, and here is what she had to say.

No Guarantees

The first point to make here is that there are never any guarantees that you can completely avoid a fake so don’t get overly paranoid about it, there are some guidelines to follow but that is about as much due diligence as you can make, unless you wish to invest thousands to have every piece which you look at valued and checked by an expert.

All Details

When it comes to coins you have to first start off with as much literature as you can get your hands on which will describe every single detail of the coin which you should expect to find. This will include the material that the coin should be, the weight, the color, the markings if any that the piece has and of course any inscriptions or embossing which may be found on the coin.

Wear

One area which fraudsters do find difficult to mimic is the wear that a coin may have had. LEt’s say that a coin is from the 15th century, during the last 500 years the metal would’ve worn and corroded in a certain way, the use of the coin would have seen details rubbed off and some discoloration would have taken place in certain areas. This is where you can often spot fakes because trying to copy something new is one thing but trying to copy something and create 500 years of wear is not going to be easy. Make sure that you know how the particular material should wear over time and what to expect from a piece which is as old as it is.

Gut Instinct

It may not be particularly scientific but there is a lot to say about trusting your gut instinct when it comes to more expensive purchases. Now if the piece you are looking at is $40 for example then it may very well be worth a punt, if on the other hand you are looking at spending some serious money on the piece there is just no point at all in buying something if you have any doubts about it. Assuming you’ve done your homework, the last test is to trust your own instincts about whether or not the piece is real.

One holiday that many people go all-out for when it comes to their home decoration is Christmas. However, in order to make your home look like a winter wonderland, you might come to find that you’re quickly spending tons and tons of money decor and other items. But luckily, this doesn’t have to be the case.

To help you keep some of that money in your pocket for actual Christmas shopping, here are three tips for saving money on Christmas decorations.

Use Nature

An amazing and cheap way to decorate your home in a winter theme is to use things that you can find in nature around your home.

According to Lori Johnston, a contributor to HGTV.com, by taking some clippings from around your neighborhood or your town, you can find natural elements that will help you make your home look festive without having to spend any money at all. Things like fall tree boughs, pinecones, berries, and more can all be easily incorporated into your Christmas decor. So before you head off to the store to get some decoration, take a look around the outside of your home to see if you can use anything natural first. You might be surprised at how creative you can get with just a few clippings.

Know Where To Shop

For the times that you are going to buy something that you’ll add or use for your holiday decor, it’s important that you know the best places to shop in order to get the most for your money.

Isadora Baum, a contributor to the Rachel Ray Show, shares that the best place to get Christmas decorations at reduced prices is a thrift store. If you’re able to get to a thrift store at the right time and when they have a good selection of holiday items available, you can save anywhere from 50 to 90 percent on typical holiday decorations that you’d buy at a traditional retail shop.

Buy At The Right Times

In addition to buying your decor at the right place in order to save money, you should also know the best times to make your shopping trips for all types of Christmas supplies.

According to Sarah Stebbins, a contributor to Real Simple, most larger stores follow a certain pattern for sales and discounts leading up to the day of Christmas. Generally, you can find discounts on outdoor holiday decorations toward the beginning of November. As you get a little further into November, you’ll then find indoor decor and more Christmas-specific decorations on sale.

If you’re wanting to save money on all of your Christmas and holiday decor this coming year, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you accomplish this.