Buy Now Pay Later and Financial Stress — Urban Consumer Study
Complete this anonymous academic survey about BNPL use, financial wellbeing, and general financial knowledge (about 6–8 minutes).
This survey is part of an academic research project on Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) services and personal finances. It takes about 6-8 minutes. Participation is voluntary, all responses are anonymous, data will be used only for academic purposes, and you may withdraw at any time. There are no right or wrong answers.
SECTION A — Screening and profile
1. Age
*
Under 18
18-24
25-30
31-35
36-40
Over 40
2. Gender
*
Male
Female
Prefer to self-describe
Prefer not to say
3. Approximate personal income per month
*
No independent income
Below ₹25,000
₹25,000-₹50,000
₹50,001-₹1,00,000
Above ₹1,00,000
Prefer not to say
4. In the past six months, have you used any Buy Now Pay Later service — for example Simpl, LazyPay, Amazon Pay Later, Flipkart Pay Later, Paytm Postpaid, or a no-cost EMI at checkout?
*
Yes
No
5. My monthly income is predictable and arrives on a regular schedule.
*
Strongly disagree
Disagree
Neither agree nor disagree
Agree
Strongly agree
SECTION B — BNPL usage
6. How often do you make a purchase using BNPL?
*
Less than once a month
About once a month
Two to three times a month
About once a week
Several times a week
7. How many BNPL services do you currently have an unpaid balance with?
*
None
One
Two
Three
Four or more
8. Roughly what share of your monthly discretionary spending goes through BNPL?
*
Less than 10%
10-25%
26-50%
More than 50%
Not sure
9. I use BNPL for purchases I could not have paid for in full at the time.
*
Strongly disagree
Disagree
Neither agree nor disagree
Agree
Strongly agree
SECTION C — Perceptions of BNPL
10-13. Please indicate your agreement with the following statements:
*
Rows
Strongly disagree
Disagree
Neither agree nor disagree
Agree
Strongly agree
10. When a price is shown split into instalments, the purchase feels more affordable than the full amount does.
11. When using BNPL, I pay more attention to the instalment amount than to the total price.
12. I know, without checking, the total amount I currently owe across all my BNPL commitments.
13. Paying with BNPL feels less like taking on debt than borrowing from a bank does.
SECTION D — Financial wellbeing
14. How often do you worry about meeting your monthly payment obligations?
*
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Often
Always
15. How often does thinking about your personal finances cause you stress?
*
Never
Rarely
Sometimes
Often
Always
16. In the past six months, how often have you missed or delayed a BNPL repayment?
*
Never
Once
Two or three times
Four or five times
More than five times
17. If an unexpected expense of ₹10,000 arose today, I could cover it without borrowing.
*
Strongly disagree
Disagree
Neither agree nor disagree
Agree
Strongly agree
SECTION E — General financial knowledge
These last three questions test general financial knowledge. Please answer without looking anything up.
18. Suppose you have ₹10,000 in a savings account earning 5% interest per year. If you withdraw nothing, how much would be in the account after five years?
*
More than ₹12,500
Exactly ₹12,500
Less than ₹12,500
Don't know
19. Suppose your savings account pays 4% interest per year while inflation runs at 6% per year. After one year, the money in that account would buy:
*
More than today
Exactly the same as today
Less than today
Don't know
20. Buying the shares of a single company usually gives a safer return than buying a mutual fund.
*
True
False
Don't know
Thank you for completing this survey. Your responses are valuable to our academic research.
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