Openpay takes roster of sports partnerships to 14

Buy now, pay later venture Openpay, has announced partnerships with four UK sports clubs: Cardiff City, Newport County, Hashtag United and Wasps.

Hashtag United becomes the FinTech’s first ever e-Sports signing.

Its roster of sports partnerships has now increased to 14 clubs across racing, rugby and football, including Fulham FC, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Brentford FC.

We are pleased to release our FY21 Annual Report, showcasing a year of Transformative change for $OPY. Read how we are delivering on our mission “to change the way people pay, for the better.” Full Report: https://t.co/pFFMvWXRa2 pic.twitter.com/7B98uWegWG
— Openpay (@openpay_) August 27, 2021

Launching ahead of the 2021/2022 season, fans will be able to sue Openpay’s Buy now. Pay Smarter payment solution, which spreads the cost of purchases over two to three month plans, without interest.

They are required to make an initial down payment when purchasing replica shirts or other merchandise, in an attempt to encourage responsible spending and minimise returns.

Georgina Whalley, Interim UK CEO and Group CMO, Openpay, says: “We’re delighted to announce official partnerships with Cardiff City, Hashtag United, Newport County and Wasps.”

“The buzz of matches returning is at fever pitch, and off the back of a summer of sport which inspired so many, we’re excited to help fans of all four clubs split the costs of merchandise over a period which suits them.”

Australian headquartered Openpay launched in the UK in early 2019.

Citizens Advice research

One in ten shoppers who use buy now pay later have been chased by debt collectors, according to Citizens Advice.

According to its research, these people were charged £39 million in late fees in the past year.

Of those who were referred to a debt collector for missed payments, 96% experienced a negative consequence.

They reported at least one of the following: sleepless nights; ignoring texts, emails and letters in case they were about debts; avoiding answering the door; borrowing money to repay the debt; or their mental health getting worse.

Yet the charity found that not one of the BNPL checkouts on leading retailers’ websites warned people they could be referred to debt collectors for missed payments. Instead this was only flagged in the T&Cs on a separate page, if at all.

Citizens Advice conducted mystery shopping at 100 leading retailers and found 38 offered BNPL, with 22 offering more than two options, meaning there were a total of 74 BNPL checkouts.

Out of those offering BNPL, only 11% warned shoppers they were taking out a credit agreement, the remaining 89% put this information in the small print or T&Cs.

Citizens Advice asked the BNPL firms featured in the research if they ever referred customers to debt collectors.

Klarna, Clearpay, Laybuy and Openpay confirmed they do this as a last resort. Splitit said it doesn’t. PayPal refused to comment.

Citizens Advice says it is s calling on the Treasury to urgently regulate this space as it “fears shoppers have been left unprotected and ill-informed during the rapid expansion of the sector”.

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