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Zip will have a physical 'buy now, pay later' card for the holidays

Life in plastic, it's fantastic.

A "shop now, pay later" neon sign

Zip wants you to "buy now, pay later" at retail stores

Photo: Sudan Ouyang/Unsplash

"Buy now, pay later" provider Zip is launching a physical card with partner WebBank to let consumers shop in stores — and pay the bill off in installments. It's the latest move by a pay-later service to expand its reach from online purchases to retail. The card will be shipped to qualified customers next week in preparation for the holidays, Zip said.

WebBank, a Utah-chartered bank, is the lender to customers of the Zip Card. (Like other "buy now, pay later" companies, Zip already had a virtual card offering which lets customers shop at any online store, not just ones with which it has partnerships.)

Using the Zip Card, consumers can pay at a store; they will pay in four installments over six weeks through the consumer's linked debit card. The first installment is paid at the time of purchase. Zip previously launched a pilot of the card in 2020 but is now releasing it fully.

Affirm has a card called Affirm Debit+ that it plans to release to all consumers in early 2022. With Affirm's card, consumers can pay with the card and use an app to decide within 24 hours whether to convert the purchase to installments.

Tomio Geron

Tomio Geron ( @tomiogeron) is a San Francisco-based reporter covering fintech. He was previously a reporter and editor at The Wall Street Journal, covering venture capital and startups. He was also as a staff writer at Forbes covering social media and venture capital, and edited the Midas List of top tech investors. He can be reached at tgeron@protocol.com or tgeron@protonmail.com.

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