tbi bank survey: 80% of Romanians prefer ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ to buy electronics & appliances
In the last year, due to increased interest rates, Romanians became more pragmatic and started to focus more on interest free financing to purchase services and products needed for a safer and more comfortable lifestyle. More than 80% of Romanians would choose a Buy Now Pay Later financing solution, with 4 interest free installments, to buy electronics and appliances, to take advantage of lower cost of financing in a delicate economic context, according to a tbi bank survey among 1,057 respondents across the country.
More than 23% would use BNPL to go on holiday, and almost 18% to access quality medical services. Moreover, about 53% of subjects said they prefer to take multiple small loans for smaller purchases, to be repaid in interest-free installments, and only 21% would choose a larger loan, to be repaid in installments with interest.
”The consumers had to adapt in the last year to a more complex economic and social context. Higher interest rates represented a big problem for most of them, so they started to choose interest free financing, and BNPL is a great option in this regard. As usual, we adapted to their needs and offered to them more advantageous financing options, but especially BNPL, to help overcome a difficult situation that shows no signs of ending very soon”, said Gergana Staykova, Market Leader, tbi bank.
Regarding of how they find more advantageous to pay for a purchased product, more than 41% said they want to pay in 4 interest free installments, almost 36% would choose to fully pay in the first day, and 22,4% would choose to pay in more installments, but with 0 interest on the first 4 installments.
About 84% of the respondents said that BNPL allows them to buy products they would otherwise not be able to afford on the spot, and almost 70% consider it, in most cases, a trustful financing solution. 34.53% of respondents would need over 3000 lei through BNPL financing, and 22.42% would want a maximum of 1000 lei.
The tbi bank survey on Romanians’ perception of the financing was conducted nationwide in August-September 2023 via the iVox platform, on a total sample of 1,057 internet users in Romania. Slightly more than 50% of the participants are women, little less than 75% are at most 45 years old and more than 87% live in urban areas.
About tbi bank
𝐭𝐛𝐢 bank is a mobile-first challenger bank in South East Europe and regional leader in alternative payment solutions, building an ecosystem by combining financing and shopping to address customers’ needs. It focuses on helping merchants to grow their business as well as providing consumers with financial products and services that make their lives easier. Currently operates in Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Germany, and Lithuania. Through various digital channels and trusted partnerships with nearly 20,000 merchant locations, 𝐭𝐛𝐢 has a customer base of 2 million clients and issued nearly 550,000 loans in 2022. Its business model and customer-focused approach resulted in becoming one of the most profitable and efficient banks in the region.