With back-to-school spending predicted to be nearly $39 billionthis year, many parents expect to go into debt in order to pay for their kids' school supplies.
Some stores are luring shoppers with "buy now, pay later" plans to help finance those purchases.
Good Morning Cleveland anchor Mike Brookbank spoke with Sara Rathner, a personal finance expert at NerdWallet, about the pros and cons of the payment method.
"There's no application, there's no credit check and when you enter into a plan, there's no interest that you have to pay unless you miss a payment," said Rathner.
However, Rathner cautions "buy now, pay later" plans can create even more debt if you're not careful.
"Because you can enter into multiple 'buy now, pay later' plans at the same time, it becomes very easy to overwhelm yourself," said Rathner. "You want to make sure that you have the money in your bank account available to afford every payment until the item is paid off completely because if you miss payments, it can hurt your credit."
