Just lately I noticed there is 0% Interest with 3 installment payments with Atome and have started using it for several purchases. It's not only 0% interest that is the advantage but there is a further discount with RM15 voucher for first user, something like that, and collection of points with purchases made via Atome where the points can be used to further reduce the price of the item that is purchased later.

I wonder if this is the end of credit card era where banks charge interest with instalment plans? What is the catch with the 0% interest free plans offered by Atome which I may not be aware of? It may be limited to 3 payments for 3 months but still, it should be good enough for most people. There will be interest charged for longer instalments with Atome as interest will be charged for 6 payments.

The payment won't be missed as it's auto-debit with the credit card. Perhaps I am still missing something?

Yes, that's a valid reason for the catch as some people may tend to spend more than what they are capable of spending.

With respect to banks offering 0% interest with flexi payments, not all merchants offer this option, and if certain options offer this 0% interest instalment, it may only be with selected banks and not all banks. I only have CIMB credit card and most merchants don't have this bank in their list for the 0% interest free instalment plan.

What I meant was using Atome for the 0% interest free instalment payments as the option it's not available with certain merchants and banks. I have not used my credit card for 0% instalment free plans.

Yes, I can surely understand. It's the same with SPayLater with Shopee. The buyer happily purchase items on Shopee with reduced monthly payments but when the bill suddenly comes for combined purchases, it may be too much for some as it's easy to just click, click, click on items to buy things.

I don't use SPayLater on Shopee anymore as it's troublesome, not so much I don't have enough cash to buy things. For the most recent purchase via Atome, I could actually pay in full amount but chose the 3 payment plan since it's a one-off purchase which is more than RM5k. There is basically no risk since the payment via Atome is auto-debit with credit card so there won't be any late charges.

Selected banks with selected merchants. Some banks are not included with merchants which offer interest-free instalment plans.

For the past ~25 years using credit card, there was only one (1) case where I had a late payment charge notified via the bank statement. I called the bank to have it waived as I told them of it's the only time where I forgot to pay as I was busy with work, and it was duly waived. Now I don't forget to pay the credit card bills as that's the only bill I have to pay, nothing else, and I only have one credit card.

With SPayLater via Shopee platform it's easy to forget to pay so I have stopped using although I tried it one or two times earlier when there was promotion by using that feature. Even though they give some discount vouchers with SPayLater on Shopee, I don't use it anymore.

With Atome, there won't be any late payment charge unless I forget to pay the credit card bill since it's tied with it via auto-debit.

Perhaps I've written wrongly. What I meant was choosing Atome or other platform to make 0% instalment payments when payment with credit card (certain banks) is not available or not offered by the merchant.

So merchants need to pay a certain fee to Atome for the usage of the service, useful to know. As for banks earning interest through minimum or late payment of credit card charges, this does not apply to people who make full payment in time, of course.

Good to know there is no catch.

I'm not sure but it's available for the merchants where I have used the 0% interest 3 payments plan where the service is not available for my credit card.

Yes, though in my case the 0% interest free plan with Atome is available for 2 merchants where I have bought items from while the service is not available with the credit card which I have.