Financial decisions aren’t always rational — especially in environments where inflation moves faster than logic.
In Turkey, where annual inflation has often been in double digits, consumers face a familiar dilemma every day:
“Should I pay now or spread the cost over time?”

At first glance, this seems simple. Yet behind every “3-month installment” or “5% cash discount” lies a complex calculation involving inflation, opportunity cost, and purchasing power erosion.
That realization led me to build PeşinTaksit, a small tool designed to turn those gut-feeling choices into measurable, data-driven insights.

The Background: Why Installments Matter in Turkey

Unlike many Western markets, installment payments (taksit) are deeply rooted in Turkish consumer behavior.
Most credit cards offer multi-installment options — not just for big purchases but even for daily spending.
High inflation and volatile interest rates make timing a payment almost as important as the amount itself.

In such an environment, even a short delay in payment or a small discount can have a meaningful real-world impact on value.
Yet consumers rarely calculate that impact. They simply “feel” which option seems better.
I wanted to change that.

Where the Idea Came From

PeşinTaksit started from my personal frustration.
While shopping online, I realized the payment options on the checkout screen meant little to me:
“3 installments,” “cash discount,” “pay next month.”
They were just words — I couldn’t tell which was actually smarter financially.

So I decided to build a tool that could compare those options mathematically, using real inflation data and user-defined expectations.

How PeşinTaksit Works

Users can create their own scenarios from multiple payment types:

  • Cash (with discount)
  • Credit card single payment
  • Installments
  • Deferred payments
  • Installment + deferral combinations
  • Even paper-based or promissory payments

Then they select a basis for comparison:

  • Actual inflation from TÜİK (the Turkish Statistical Institute)
  • Expected inflation from surveys of households, market participants, or industry
  • Or their own alternative return rate (interest, yield, etc.)

The result? A clear, side-by-side comparison of real cost and opportunity loss.
Users can even factor in their credit card billing cycle, since a few weeks’ delay in payment can shift the economics in meaningful ways.

And importantly:

PeşinTaksit never stores any user data.
All calculations are done client-side, directly in the browser — no personal information or results ever reach the server.

What Makes It Different

While there are a few similar calculators (such as pesinmitaksitmi.com), PeşinTaksit takes a broader, more data-driven approach:

  • Supports more payment combinations and flexible comparisons
  • Incorporates real and expected inflation directly
  • Offers a clean, guided interface instead of static tables
  • Keeps everything transparent and privacy-safe

The outcome isn’t just a number — it’s financial awareness.
It helps consumers understand that what looks like a discount might, under high inflation, be an illusion of affordability.

Technical Foundation

PeşinTaksit is deliberately lightweight:

  • Backend: Fastify
  • Frontend: Nuxt
  • Database & Cache: Minimal use of MariaDB and Redis
  • Deployment: Docker on a small VPS
  • Design: Minimal API surface, all core logic runs client-side for privacy and speed

The focus is not on data accumulation, but on fast computation and clarity.

Why It Matters

PeşinTaksit is not a financial product — it’s a decision-support tool.
It encourages users to look beyond marketing slogans and see the real cost behind every payment method.
In a country where inflation and consumer credit define daily economics, that awareness can make a difference.

For me, it’s also a reminder that:

“The best ideas often come from solving your own everyday confusion.”

What’s Next

Next steps include a fully mobile-optimized version and new micro-tools that expand financial literacy — such as:

  • Real yield calculators
  • Interest rate comparison modules
  • Deferred payment simulators

Each designed to make everyday financial decisions more transparent for Turkish consumers.

PeşinTaksit shows that even a small, independent project can make abstract economic dynamics tangible.
It’s not about building a financial app — it’s about building clarity.

👉 Learn more: pesintaksit.com.tr , unfortunately only in Turkish.