IMPLEMENTASI NILAI WAKTU UANG DALAM LAYANAN PAYLATER: STUDI KASUS E-COMMERCE INDONESIA

Abstract

The growth of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) or Paylater services in Indonesia, which reached IDR 8.22 trillion in financing as of March 2025, creates a paradox between accelerating financial inclusion and increasing consumerism risks. This study aims to analyze how the fundamental concept of Time Value of Money (TVM) is implemented in the Paylater fee structure and how this implementation affects consumer cost perceptions. The method used is a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) and a conceptual synthesis of academic literature, industry reports, and regulations for the 2020–2025 period. The study results show that the implementation of TVM in Paylater services is largely implicit through the promotion of “0% interest,” which hides real costs and results in an Effective Annual Rate (EAR) that is much higher than the nominal interest rate. This perceptual distortion is reinforced by cognitive bias (present bias) and low levels of financial literacy, which cause consumers to misjudge the economic value of payment delays. The theoretical contribution of this research lies in the integration of the TVM framework into the study of digital consumer behavior, offering a new perspective that goes beyond conventional technology adoption approaches. Practically, these findings provide a basis for regulators to formulate EAR-based fee transparency policies and for educational institutions to design financial literacy programs that focus on the time value of money in the fintech ecosystem.