PayWatch monitors the accounts of BNPL customers in New Zealand. It captures account data daily and importantly, it ensures that participating BNPL providers are aware if a prospective new customer and current customer is behind on their repayments with another BNPL provider.
Zip takes the following steps to ensure customers are protected from falling into further financial hardship:
- Zip is notified when customers have outstanding repayments with other BNPLs.
- Once notified, we will automatically apply a shopping lock to the account to prevent financial hardship. Note: Customers will still be able to make payments, edit their profile and perform other actions.
- Once the outstanding payments are cleared with other Buy Now Pay Later providers, we will unlock the Zip account so shopping can resume as normal.
Note: The unlocking process may take up to 14 - 28 days from the time you repay your other accounts. We notify customers when their account is unlocked.
Although this will leave a footprint on your credit file, it will not impact your credit score. But it means you cannot purchase with us for up to 28 days after the amount has been settled.
Permanent Lock
Depending on the state of your account with other providers and the time it takes to clear the payments with the other provider, Zip may permanently suspend your account.
Please ensure your account with other providers is paid at the earliest possible date to avoid this scenario.