Your critique is completely valid, and I thank you for approaching it from a very mature standpoint. The truth is, I am not doing so hot. I’m trying to save as much as I can, times are tough, and my household is disproportionately reliant on me. This is only temporary, but I am doing the best I can.

My parents were bankers, so they taught me all about predatory loans early. While it’s not perfect, the pay in 4 option for me is working because it allows me to offset the high cost these unexpected necessities without falling into the trappings of a high interest loan that would be impossible to pay back or dipping into my savings. It’s the best of a bad situation and the most affordable in terms of staying liquid. Especially with all the sudden costs that came up recently.

To be clear, I don’t want my initial comment to serve as an endorsement for these type of products, I’m only relaying that it’s working for me in my very specific situation. I would never particularly recommend them to anyone, but if hard-pressed, I would absolutely recommend it as an alternative to a predatory high interest loan depending on their own circumstances.