Patterns in Buy Now, Pay Later Consumer Complaints

This episode's title refers to the themes Geffen uncovered in over 3,000 complaints filed with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Using a machine learning method called Latent Dirichlet Allocation, he analyzes what consumers are actually saying about Buy Now, Pay Later companies and finds that the complaints go beyond hidden fees and confusing payment structures to something newer: the ways technology itself may be used to obscure what consumers are really agreeing to. His closing advice is worth the listen alone.

Scrub to 1:10 to skip the introduction