Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of requiring (a) retailer advertising and (b) influencer marketing on buy now pay later products to include identification of risks to consumers.

The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) make it a criminal offence for traders to give consumers misleading information. Under the CPRs, traders must provide consumers with the information necessary to make informed decisions and not omit or hide material information which the average consumer needs.

Last year, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) announced new rules to address harms in the Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) market, saving consumers around £40-60 million a year.

The new rules aim to reduce the overall cost of credit for consumers by banning firms from charging backdated interest on repaid sums and requiring firms to provide better information to consumers about BNPL offers, including associated risks. Firms must also give prompts to consumers, to remind them when the offer period is about to end, so that consumers are more likely to repay the credit before they incur interest.