Et tu, Costco?

Buy now, pay later, with 36% interest

With its family-friendly bulk packages, high-quality Kirkland store brand, and, more recently, competitively priced gold and silver bars, Costco has always taken care of its customers.

So its introduction of yet another way to accumulate ruinous debt feels like a betrayal:

Costco launches 'Buy Now, Pay Later' service for online purchases

(ABC News) - Costco is introducing its own "Buy Now, Pay Later" program.

The wholesale retail chain will offer a payment plan option on some online purchases through its payment partner Affirm.

Buy Now, Pay Later programs offer flexibility to customers and let them purchase products by paying for them over a specified time period.

Costco's Buy Now Pay Later program can be applied to transactions on its website that total between $500 and $17,500, with repayment periods ranging from three to 36 months.

The new Buy Now, Pay Later option will also charge interest, with APR rates between 10% and 36%. A $500 purchase at 20% APR, with payments spread out across 6 months, for example, will cost $88.27 per month and the original $500 item would cost $529.61 overall.

Payments must be made through Affirm's app or website but customers can also set up automatic payment deductions.

A Buy Now, Pay Later plan can help stretch a large purchase, such as an electronic device or home appliance, across multiple months and paychecks, but there may be penalties for customers. Missing Buy Now, Pay Later payments or paying installments late can hurt one's credit score.

Another Name For “Credit Card”

Let’s get this straight: Costco’s buy now, pay later plan charges up to 36% interest for up to 36 months. So it’s not credit card adjacent; it’s actually much worse than a typical high-tech-loan-shark credit card.

For all you Costco member/gold bugs out there, a piece of advice: DO NOT use this program to buy gold bars. The interest will cancel out the metal’s likely appreciation, rendering the “sound money” investment thesis moot. In fact, avoid this payment method altogether. If you can’t afford it in the moment, don’t buy it.

As for Costco itself, this attempt to turn customers into debt slaves has a desperate feel. Could revenue trends be signaling a recession?