Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) Statistics 2026: Users, Spending, Debt, and Regulation

Buy Now, Pay Later has gone from a niche checkout option to a $500+ billion global payment method used by nearly 1 in 6 American adults. This report compiles 100+ source-verified statistics on BNPL market size, user demographics, late payments, provider financials, and the rapidly evolving regulatory landscape.

Key Findings at a Glance

• 15% of U.S. adults used BNPL in 2024, up from 10% in 2021 (Federal Reserve SHED Survey, May 2025).
• Six major BNPL lenders originated 335.8 million loans totaling $45.2 billion in 2023, with an average loan size of $135 (CFPB, December 2025).
• 58% of BNPL users said it was "the only way they could afford" their purchase (Federal Reserve FEDS Notes, December 2024).
• 41% of BNPL users made at least one late payment in the past year, up from 34% the prior year (LendingTree, 2025).
• Global BNPL payment volume reached an estimated $492.8 billion in 2024, projected to surpass $560 billion in 2025 (ResearchAndMarkets, February 2025).

Market Size and Growth

Global BNPL Market

• Global BNPL online spending surged from $2.2 billion to $342 billion over the past decade -- a 15,000% increase (Worldpay Global Payments Report 2025).
• BNPL transaction values have grown at approximately 20% per year in real terms since 2021 (Richmond Fed, Economic Brief EB 25-03, January 2025).

U.S. BNPL Market

• U.S. BNPL GMV reached $109.0 billion in 2024 and is projected to hit $122.3 billion in 2025 (eMarketer via Capital One Shopping; ResearchAndMarkets, 2025).
• The U.S. BNPL market grew at a 20.3% CAGR from 2021 to 2024. Growth is expected to moderate to 8.5% CAGR from 2025-2030, reaching $184 billion (ResearchAndMarkets, U.S. BNPL Databook 2025).
• BNPL spending represents roughly 1% of total credit card spending volume -- approximately $70 billion vs. $6+ trillion in credit card volume (Richmond Fed, January 2025).
• 6% of U.S. e-commerce is now financed via BNPL, up from 2% in 2020 (Morgan Stanley, 2025).

BNPL Share of E-Commerce by Country

U.S. Users and Adoption

• 86.5 million Americans used BNPL in 2024, projected to reach 91.5 million in 2025 (eMarketer via Capital One Shopping).
• 15% of U.S. adults used BNPL in the prior 12 months in 2024, up from 14% in 2023, 12% in 2022, and 10% in 2021 (Federal Reserve SHED Survey, May 2025).
• 53.6 million consumers took at least one BNPL loan in 2023 from six major lenders, a 12% increase from 2022 (CFPB, December 2025).
• 3 in 10 Americans now use a BNPL service at least once a month (Motley Fool, 2025).
• 52% of U.S. consumers are projected to have used BNPL at least once by end of 2025 (Empower, 2025).
• 365 million people globally used BNPL apps in 2024, projected to reach 900 million by 2027 (Business of Apps; Juniper Research, 2022).

Who Uses BNPL: Demographics

Age

• Millennials are most likely to have used BNPL at 48%, vs. Gen Z at 40%, Gen X at 28%, Boomers at 13% (Empower, 2025).
• 53% of BNPL users were aged 35 and under, compared to 35% of traditional credit card holders (CFPB, December 2025).
• Nearly 1 in 5 Americans under 45 have used BNPL, vs. just 8% of those 60+ (Motley Fool, 2025).

Income

• 58% of all BNPL users said they used it because it was "the only way they could afford" the purchase. Among those earning under $50,000, it was 72% (Federal Reserve FEDS Notes, December 2024).
• 29.6% of those earning below $50,000 used BNPL in the prior 12 months (Federal Reserve SHED Survey, 2024).
• High-income consumers ($100K+) also use BNPL -- 38% adoption among households earning $100K-$150K/year (Morgan Stanley, 2025).

Gender and Race

• 20% of women have used BNPL vs. 14% of men (Federal Reserve SHED Survey, 2024).
• About one-fourth of Black and Hispanic women used BNPL, more than double the rates of White women (11%) and Asian women (8%) (Federal Reserve FEDS Notes, December 2024).
• Black and Hispanic adults are about twice as likely to use BNPL as White or Asian adults (Federal Reserve FEDS Notes, December 2024).

Usage Patterns and Spending

• The average BNPL user took 6.3 loans per year (per lender) in 2023, up 11% from 5.7 in 2022. Average annual BNPL spending per user reached $848, up 14% from $745 in 2022 (inflation-adjusted) (CFPB, December 2025).
• Average BNPL loan amount: $135 over approximately six weeks (CFPB, December 2025).
• Monthly BNPL spending increased 21% from $201.60 (June 2024) to $243.90 (June 2025) (Capital One Shopping).
• 80% of BNPL users utilize BNPL more than once a year (TransUnion, July 2024).
• 43% of consumers would abandon a purchase entirely if BNPL was not available (PYMNTS, 2025).
• 33% of BNPL users use it to cover expenses until their next paycheck, rising from 27% two years prior (Empower, 2025).

What People Buy with BNPL

BNPL for Groceries and Essentials

• 25% of BNPL users used it for groceries in 2025, up from 14% in 2024 -- nearly doubling in one year (LendingTree, 2025; CNBC, April 2025).
• One-third of Gen Z BNPL users have used it for groceries (LendingTree, 2025).
• 75% of financially pressured consumers have turned to pay-later plans in the past year (PYMNTS, 2025).
• 1 in 4 consumers say they use BNPL more due to cost-of-living pressures (Empower, 2025).

Every BNPL transaction generates a payment confirmation -- a digital receipt. Tools like a receipt maker help businesses document installment payments alongside traditional sales records.

Late Payments, Defaults, and Financial Risk

Late Payments

• 41% of BNPL users made at least one late payment in the past year in 2025, up from 34% the year prior (LendingTree, 2025).
• 24% of BNPL users were late on a payment according to the Federal Reserve, up from 18% in 2023 (Federal Reserve SHED, May 2025).
• 76% of BNPL late payments were less than one week overdue, suggesting temporary liquidity mismatches rather than outright defaults (LendingTree).
• 32% of 18- to 29-year-olds have missed a BNPL payment, compared to only 12% of adults 60+ (Federal Reserve SHED, 2024).
• 50% of parents with young children paid late on a BNPL loan in the past year (LendingTree, 2025).

Charge-Offs and Default Rates

• 1.83% of BNPL loans were charged off in 2023, down from 2.63% in 2022 -- the lowest rate in the five-year CFPB survey window (CFPB, December 2025).
• Charged-off dollars fell to 0.92% of GMV in 2023, also the lowest in five years (CFPB, December 2025).
• Even deep subprime borrowers (FICO below 580) repaid their BNPL loans 96% of the time (CFPB, January 2025).
• Official BNPL delinquency rates are under 2%, compared to 8.8% of credit card balances transitioning to delinquency in Q3 2024 (Financial Technology Association / NY Fed).

Late Fees

• $80.3 million in late fees were collected by six major BNPL providers in 2023 (inflation-adjusted), down from $93.8 million in 2021 (CFPB, December 2025).
• 4.1% of BNPL loans were assessed a late fee in 2023, down from 5.2% in 2022. Average late fee: $9.99 (CFPB, December 2025).
• 90% of users who asked got their late fee reduced or waived entirely (LendingTree).

Debt Stacking

• 63% of BNPL borrowers held multiple simultaneous BNPL loans at some point during the year; 33% borrowed from multiple lenders at the same time (CFPB, January 2025).
• 20% of BNPL borrowers were "heavy users" -- originating more than one loan per month on average (CFPB, January 2025).
• Heavy BNPL users carry $453 more in personal loan debt and $871 more in credit card debt than non-BNPL consumers of the same age and credit profile (CFPB, January 2025).

Credit Profile of BNPL Users

• 61% of BNPL users have subprime or deep subprime credit scores (FICO below 620). Deep subprime (below 580) alone accounts for 45% of originations (CFPB, January 2025).
• BNPL approval rates reached 79% in 2022, up from 67% in 2020. Among subprime/deep subprime applicants, 78% were approved (CFPB, January 2025).

Overdrafts and Overspending

• BNPL use increases the probability of incurring overdraft fees by 20% and low-balance fees by 17% (Harvard Business School, HBR, November 2024).
• 42.8% of BNPL users had used overdraft services, compared to only 17.3% of non-BNPL users (Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City).
• BNPL causes a permanent increase in total spending of approximately $60 per week, mainly in retail (Harvard Business School, November 2024).
• 53% of users admitted to using BNPL for purchases they knew were outside their budget (Motley Fool, 2025).
• 49% of BNPL users experienced at least one problem -- overspending (24%), missed payment (16%), or regret (15%) (Bankrate, May 2025).
• 26% of BNPL users regretted using it once the full cost hit home (Motley Fool, 2025).

Consumer Sentiment

• 89% of BNPL users are satisfied or very satisfied with the product (TransUnion, July 2024).
• 85% of BNPL users would recommend BNPL loans to others (TransUnion, July 2024).
• 86% of Americans trust BNPL as a payment method (PartnerCentric, April 2025).
• 51% of Americans believe BNPL encourages debt accumulation; among Gen Z, that figure rises to 57% (Empower, 2025).

Provider Financials

Affirm (AFRM)

• Affirm posted its first-ever GAAP profit in Q4 FY2025, earning $0.20 per share (Affirm Q4 FY2025 Earnings).
• Full year FY2026 guidance: $48.3-$48.85 billion GMV and $4.09-$4.15 billion revenue (Seeking Alpha).
• Affirm's 30+ day delinquency rate rose to 2.7% in Q2 FY2026, a six-year high (eMarketer).
• Affirm began reporting all pay-over-time loans to Experian on April 1, 2025, and to TransUnion on May 1, 2025 (Experian, March 2025).

Klarna (KLAR)

• Klarna IPO'd on the NYSE in September 2025 at $40/share, raising $1.37 billion at a ~$17.4 billion day-1 valuation. This compared to a peak private valuation of $45.6 billion in June 2021 and a trough of $6.7 billion in July 2022 (FinTech Weekly; TechCrunch).
• 99% of Klarna transactions are interest-free (Klarna S-1 SEC Filing).
• Klarna reduced its workforce from 5,000 to 3,500 through AI-driven customer service automation, reportedly saving $40 million annually (Business of Apps).
• Klarna's realized credit losses ran at 0.44-0.56% of GMV throughout 2025 (Klarna Quarterly Earnings Releases).

Afterpay (Block)

• Afterpay contributed $1.04 billion in revenue to Block in 2024 (+28% YoY) (Block earnings).
• 24 million global active customers and 348,000+ merchants (Afterpay / Block filings).
• On-time payment rate: 96% globally as of June 2025; 98% of purchases incurred no late fee (PYMNTS).
• Block acquired Afterpay for $13.9 billion (down from an announced $29 billion due to stock decline). Analysts estimate a potential goodwill write-down of $6-10 billion (Payments Dive).

PayPal Pay Later

• PayPal processed $33 billion in BNPL volume in 2024 (+21% YoY), projected to exceed $40 billion in 2025 (Chargeflow; Nasdaq).
• 40+ million BNPL users within PayPal's ecosystem (Chargebacks911).
• PayPal sold its U.S. BNPL receivables to Blue Owl Capital in a multi-year deal in September 2025, shifting the credit risk off its balance sheet (PayPal Press Release).

Sezzle (SEZL)

• Full year 2025 revenue: $450.3 million (+66% YoY) with $133.1 million in net income (+69.5% YoY) and a 39.3% operating margin (Sezzle FY2025 Results).
• FY2025 GMV: $3.94 billion (+55.1% YoY) (Sezzle FY2025 Results).
• Added to the S&P SmallCap 600 index effective December 12, 2025 (StockTitan).

Apple Pay Later (Discontinued)

• Apple discontinued Apple Pay Later on June 17, 2024, less than one year after launch. It was replaced by third-party BNPL via Affirm within Apple Pay starting September 2024 (TechCrunch; Bloomberg).

Merchant Integration

• 85%+ of major U.S. retailers offer BNPL at checkout (Chargeflow, 2025).
• Merchants offering BNPL see 20-30% higher conversion rates and 20-40% higher average order values (Stripe, 2025; Mondu / Klarna).
• BNPL merchant fees average 4-6% per transaction, nearly double credit card processing fees of 2.5-3.5%. 63% of merchants consider these fees a serious threat to profitability (EMAC International, 2025).
• U.S. website integrations: 277,534 sites use Klarna; 52,330 use Afterpay; 18,532 use Affirm (Capital One Shopping).

Regulation and Credit Reporting

U.S. Federal Regulation

• On May 22, 2024, the CFPB issued an interpretive rule classifying BNPL "pay-in-four" loans as "credit cards" under Regulation Z, requiring dispute, refund, and periodic statement protections (CFPB Interpretive Rule, May 2024).
• The CFPB withdrew this rule on May 12, 2025 as part of a mass withdrawal of 67 guidance documents, and confirmed on June 20, 2025 that it will not issue a revised BNPL rule (Federal Register, 2025-08286; Consumer Finance Monitor, June 2025).
• Without TILA coverage, BNPL users lack credit card protections including the $50 fraud liability cap, the right to dispute billing errors and pause payments during investigation, and the right to refuse payment for defective goods (National Consumer Law Center).

U.S. State Regulation

• On May 9, 2025, New York enacted the NY Buy-Now-Pay-Later Act -- the first state law requiring BNPL providers to obtain a state license. It caps interest at 16%, prohibits unfair fees, and requires risk-based underwriting (Mayer Brown, June 2025).
• Proposed NY regulations cap penalty fees at $8 per violation. The DFS published proposed implementing regulations on February 23, 2026 (Holland & Knight, July 2025).

International Regulation

• UK: BNPL lending grew from GBP 0.06 billion in 2017 to over GBP 13 billion in 2024. The UK brought BNPL under FCA regulation on July 14, 2025, requiring lenders to be FCA-authorized by July 15, 2026 (FCA; Skadden, May 2025).
• Australia: The Responsible BNPL Act received royal assent on December 10, 2024. From June 10, 2025, BNPL providers must hold a credit license and comply with responsible lending obligations (ASIC).
• EU: The Consumer Credit Directive II (CCD2) must be transposed by November 20, 2025, removing the previous interest-free credit exemption that shielded BNPL from regulation (Oliver Wyman, February 2025).

Credit Bureau Reporting

• FICO announced FICO Score 10 BNPL -- the first major credit scores to incorporate BNPL data -- expected in Fall 2025. Simulations show most users will see a score change of approximately +/- 10 points (FICO, 2025; CNN, June 2025).
• Equifax began allowing BNPL pay-in-4 reporting on February 28, 2022 -- the earliest of the three bureaus (Equifax Newsroom).
• TransUnion collects BNPL data but currently keeps it visible only to consumers on their own reports -- not shared with lenders or scoring providers (Payments Dive).
• Most BNPL loans remain "phantom debt" -- not reported to credit bureaus, making total outstanding BNPL debt invisible to traditional credit monitoring (Fortune, May 2024).

This report is published by MakeMyReceipt, a free receipt maker used by small businesses to create professional receipts. If you found this data useful, please cite as: "Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) Statistics 2026," makemyreceipt.com, March 2026.

Methodology and Sources

• CFPB, "The Buy Now, Pay Later Market" (December 2025): PDF. Transaction data from six major BNPL providers (Affirm, Afterpay, Klarna, PayPal, Sezzle, Zip) covering 2019-2023.
• CFPB, "Consumer Use of Buy Now, Pay Later" (January 2025): PDF. Credit-bureau-matched data on debt stacking, credit profiles, and borrower demographics.
• Federal Reserve SHED Survey (May 2025): Link. Nationally representative survey of 11,000+ U.S. adults covering 2024 data.
• Federal Reserve FEDS Notes, "The Only Way I Could Afford It" (December 2024): Link. Deep dive into BNPL demographics by race, gender, and income.
• Richmond Fed, Economic Brief EB 25-03 (January 2025): Link. Market impact, policy considerations, and credit card comparison.
• Harvard Business School (Di Maggio, Katz, Williams, November 2024): HBR Article. Overdraft impact, spending increases, and effects on lower-income consumers.
• Kansas City Fed, "Financial Constraints Among BNPL Users": Link. Overdraft prevalence among BNPL vs. non-BNPL users.
• Worldpay Global Payments Report 2025: PDF. Global BNPL transaction volume and e-commerce share.
• Affirm 10-K / Earnings Supplements (FY2025-FY2026): Investor Relations. SEC filings with GMV, revenue, active users, and delinquency data.
• Klarna S-1 Filing / FY2025 Results: S-1; FY2025. IPO prospectus and annual results.
• Sezzle FY2025 Results (February 2026): Press Release.
• LendingTree BNPL Tracker (2025): Link. Self-reported late payments, grocery usage, category trends.
• Bankrate BNPL Survey (May 2025): Link. Consumer problem rates and overspending.
• Motley Fool, 2025 BNPL Trends Study: Link. Usage, regret, late payments, and budget overruns.
• TransUnion BNPL Research (July 2024): Link. Satisfaction and credit score expectations.
• Morgan Stanley, "BNPL Growth Raises Concerns" (2025): Link. U.S. e-commerce share and demographic data.
• Empower / The Currency (2025): Link. Category breakdowns, motivations, and consumer sentiment.
• Capital One Shopping Research (2026): Link. Market size, user counts, and merchant integrations.

Last updated: March 2026.