My Honest Take on Buy Now, Pay Later

More than once now, an investor has asked me point blank what I think about buy now, pay later (BNPL). I didn’t hedge, and I think that’s why the answer landed.

Here’s my take….

For years I thought the problem was me. I tried the budgeting apps, the envelopes, every technique that is supposed to work. And I still ended up spending again before the last payment cleared, then overdrawing. I assumed I was just bad with money.

I’m neurodivergent. So at some point I stopped blaming myself and started digging. This is not a me problem. It is a design problem, and it is happening to millions of people.

The mechanism is documented. New BNPL users see rapid increases in overdraft charges compared to non-users, and researchers at Stanford and Harvard, using banking data from millions of people, found this looks causal, not coincidental. Part of why: every purchase creates its own payment schedule, so four purchases can mean eight or more payments landing on different days, with no single statement showing the total. The product is designed to separate the good feeling of buying from the pain of paying.

Now put that in an ADHD brain. Working memory that does not hold eight due dates. A reward system wired for the purchase, not the consequence three weeks out. Time blindness that makes later feel like never. This is not a character flaw. It is a predictable collision between how the product works and how our brains work.

Here is what frustrates me. The research on the neurodivergent piece is thin. We know BNPL affects mental health. A 2025 JAMA study linked it to higher rates of depression, anxiety, and PTSD. What is not well studied is how it affects people with specific neurodivergencies like ADHD. But follow the breadcrumbs and the hypothesis is compelling: for brains like ours, this may be especially dangerous.

That gap is exactly why I am building Pistachio Pay, the first trauma-informed financial automation platform for neurodivergent adults. Not another budgeting app that assumes executive function you do not have. Something built for the brain you actually have.

To be clear, I am not saying BNPL is inherently wrong. With the right guardrails, double spending does not have to be part of the story. With Pistachio Pay, it stops being something you have to track or fear. And when your money is finally that clear, you may find you do not need BNPL at all.

If you have felt this and thought it was just you, it isn’t. And we are building for you. 💚