If you’ve thought about taking out a buy now, pay later loan, you’re not alone. Bankrate’s Buy Now, Pay Later Survey found that nearly one-third of Americans (30 percent) have used BNPL. And, in many ways, the short-term payment plans resemble personal loans.

You get access to funds almost instantly and select a repayment schedule with a definite payoff date. It’s an installment loan, so it doesn’t raise your credit utilization ratio, which is good news for your credit score health.

In some cases, it may even be a safer bet financially than a personal loan. I know that first hand, because a couple of BNPL plans helped me fund a last-minute surprise trip for my wife to a special Gilmore Girls Stars Hollow event a few months ago without using a credit card or taking out a multi-year personal loan.

How BNPL led me to Stars Hollow

I got the notice around the time all our middle-of-the-month bills were coming out: Warner Brothers Studios was hosting a special Sunday Gilmore Girls brunch in the middle of the Stars Hollow set to celebrate the first of many 25th-year anniversary events to come.

I knew tickets would go fast — but I knew it wasn’t in the budget to use savings to pay for the entire trip. I was on a credit card fast, so the choices came down to a personal loan or BNPL.

I decided to look at BNPL for the $250 car rental, the event tickets for $350 and $500 for a reasonably priced hotel near the studio.

Here’s what I found out:

• My limit with Affirm was capped at $400 since it was my first purchase. That was enough for the event tickets. The first payment was due in 30 days at $87.50, and it would be paid in full within four payments.
• I looked at Sezzle for the car payment and hotel, since my travel limit with them was about $800. I found a car rental for a little over $100 per day all-in with insurance and a hotel for $225 per night, including all the taxes and fees.
• I ended up choosing an eight-week repayment plan for the car at $220 and $450 for the hotel. Sezzle requires the first payment upfront, so $167.50 came out of my debt card for the rental car and hotel.

I booked the event tickets first, and the hotel and car options about three days later. It was official: My wife was going to get to spend a day living out scenes from the show that was a staple of binge-watching in our household.

How BNPL can be safer for your budget

Buy now, pay later plans have four features that can make them safer than personal loans.

1. You don’t pay interest on the quick pay options. You’ll pay an average rate of over 12.5 percent for a personal loan, making it a significantly more expensive financing option.
2. There are typically no fees if you pick the shortest-term plans. Fees at some personal loan lenders can cost you as much as 10 percent of your loan amount.
3. Debt is usually paid in full within eight weeks. Whatever you buy, you’ll be debt-free within a matter of weeks, compared to years with a personal loan.
4. Your spending limit is capped. You might be limited to several hundred dollars per plan at first, which keeps you from overspending. The limit is increased over time as you repay your plans on time.

The bottom line? You can avoid fees, interest and overspending with a loan that is paid in full within a few months. The smaller, biweekly payments may be easier on your budget than the larger monthly payments associated with a personal loan.

How BNPL is safer for your credit score

Quick debt payoff timelines and small loan amounts can equal peace of mind if life happens.

The longer you carry any type of debt, the more likely it is it could end up unaffordable if a major life event happens. A child can get sick, you can get laid off or the air conditioning can go out on the hottest day of the year — but every month that personal loan payment still comes due.

BNPL are typically only paid for eight weeks, reducing the odds you’ll still be paying a balance off if something unexpected hits your finances. Taking out a personal loan would have meant a term of at least 12 or 24 months.

One of the big reasons I steered away from personal loans was that the minimum amount was $2,000 at most of the lenders I shopped at. I didn’t want to borrow that much, and I certainly didn’t want to pay a double-digit APR for a larger balance if I could get no-fee financing on two or three smaller purchase amounts.

Avoid credit-score-damaging credit card use

The ability to finance smaller amounts makes it a good deterrent to credit cards, which can drag your scores down if you’re not able to pay them in full every month. That’s because revolving debt spikes your credit utilization ratio if you don’t pay it off every month, which can tank your credit score.

A buy now, pay later plan is a type of installment loan. You receive all the funds at once and make regular payments until it’s paid in full. Because it’s not revolving, it doesn’t hurt your credit utilization ratio like credit cards do if you carry a balance or max them out.

There’s also no guessing about your monthly payment — it’s fixed from the start. You don’t have to worry about variable interest rates if you pay the BNPL off on time because the short-term plans don’t charge interest at all.

Where BNPL can help the most vs. personal loans

BNPL kept me from increasing my credit card balances, carrying the debt for years instead of weeks or tapping savings. The BNPL accounts were paid for in full by the middle of July, and we now have a Stars Hollow picture wall. A few tips from my experience:

1. Biweekly payments come fast. Make sure you pencil in that second payment, especially if you’re using a budget template that usually only features monthly payments.
2. Watch for subscription fees. To use the car rental company I wanted, I had to upgrade to Sezzle’s paid service for $17.99 per month. Affirm has a Visa card option that allows you to use its service wherever Visa is accepted, so there is no extra fee.
3. Spend limits vary based on product and retailers. Initially, I didn’t think I’d be able to fund the rental car and hotel on BNPL because my limit was too low. However, I found that the spending limit may be higher or lower depending on what type of expense you are funding or what retailer you’re choosing — in my case, travel and Hilton, respectively.

BNPL vs. personal loan comparison recap

The joy of our Stars Hollow experience was enhanced by the fact that there is no ongoing debt related to it. Here’s an overview of where BNPL shines compared to personal loans.

BNPL final safety tips

Overall, my BNPL experience was positive. That said, the biweekly payment schedule is a little jarring if you’re used to a monthly payment bill cadence.

Not paying any interest was a huge plus, but I did forget to cancel the Sezzle subscription the next month, so I was out an extra $17.99. A few safety tips worth mentioning:

1. Try to time your BNPL openings at the same time. The biweekly due dates start the day you sign off on your new BNPL plan. If you open them up over several days, as I did for the hotel and the car rental, make sure you track the day of the week they’re coming out to avoid surprises.
2. Stop using them if the biweekly payments get tough. I got a taste of what payday loans look like and learned a new financial term — high-frequency bill paying. The drawback to biweekly versus monthly payments is your account is being tapped more often for payments than a monthly payment.
3. Watch APRs for longer-term options. I almost accidentally picked a 12-month repayment on Affirm, not realizing the super-low payment was an “additional options” box that came with a longer repayment term and a double-digit APR.

My colleague, Andrew Pentis, who has done a lot of reporting lately on BNPL, cautions that making more frequent payments can be more of a hindrance than a help. In that case, a personal loan may be easier to manage.

“In your case, personal loans, which are typically repaid in one to five years, might offer the repayment flexibility that your budget requires,” Pentis explains. However, you’re less likely to damage your credit history if you get behind on a BNPL than a personal loan.

“For instance, if you’re late on making the minimum monthly payment towards a personal loan, your credit could take an immediate hit,” Pentis says. Since some BNPL providers don’t voluntarily report information to the credit bureaus, you might not incur any credit damage if you get behind on payments.

Bottom line

BNPL plans helped fund one of those once-in-a-lifetime events without hitting my revolving credit lines or altering our savings plans. I dressed up as Luke and got to see sheer joy on my wife’s face as we spent the day taking pictures in front of Luke’s Diner, the porch of Lorelai’s house and Rory’s school. As long as you don’t stack too many plans at once, buy now, pay later plans can be a solid alternative to personal loans.