The companies announced Wednesday (April 9) that Shopify merchants in Canada who have signed up for early access can begin offering the Affirm-powered Shop Pay Installments program, marking its first availability outside the U.S. 

“We’re thrilled to launch Shop Pay Installments in early access to Canada as our first step beyond the U.S.,” Kaz Nejatian, Shopify’s chief operating officer, said in a news release. 

“Our partnership with Affirm expands our global reach, giving shoppers the flexibility to pay over time, and drives higher conversion rates for merchants worldwide.”

According to the release, Shop Pay Installments will be made available in general access to Shopify merchants in Canada and the U.K. this summer, with cross-border commerce capabilities between the U.S., Canada, and U.K. expected to follow.

The companies first announced plans to expand Shop Pay Installments — which lets customers make payments in customized biweekly or monthly intervals — in February. 

After launching in the U.K. and Canada, the companies plan to expand their partnership to Australia and Western Europe, beginning with France, Germany and the Netherlands.

“As Shop Pay Installments launches in each new market, local merchants will be able to seamlessly activate the product directly from their Shopify admin dashboard — no additional development or technical integration required,” the release added. 

The expanded partnership comes at a moment when — as PYMNTS wrote earlier this week — buy now, pay later (BNPL) options are “rapidly becoming a permanent fixture in how consumers budget, shop and pay.”

To get a more expansive view of the pay-later industry, PYMNTS spoke with five industry leaders for the new eBook, “Reimagining Consumer Finance: The Strategic Rise of Buy Now, Pay Later.”

Among those experts is Affirm founder/CEO Max Levchin, who sees the sector transforming into a trusted, ubiquitous service, much like American Express became a household name in credit. 

In his opinion, consumers enjoy BNPL’s predictability and sense of control over repayment more than the ability to borrow. 

“Our appeal is not that it’s some cool way of borrowing money,” he said of his company.

Rather, the appeal lies in the ability to eliminate late fees and hidden costs while improving merchants’ conversion rates and average transaction values.

Meanwhile, recent PYMNTS Intelligence research looks at the popularity of BNPL among more affluent consumers for both luxury purchases and essentials.

“Maybe they have maxed out their credit cards and have an expensive auto repair. Maybe the card they want to use comes with perks and rewards that they want to tap into for another purchase,” PYMNTS wrote Wednesday.

“What’s clear is that the alternative credit option has become mainstream for the majority of higher earners.”

The post Affirm and Shopify Expand Pay-Later Pact to Canada appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

A recent deep dive by PYMNTS Intelligence into what’s known as the Pay Later landscape reveals a surprising trend sweeping America’s consumer landscape: A growing number of higher-income shoppers are embracing the ‘pay later’ economy mostly for splurges but also for essentials.

Since emerging more than two decades ago as an alternative to traditional credit cards, buy now, pay later (BNPL) platforms (more accurately referred to as pay later) cultivated an image of cash-strapped consumers with poor credit histories and limited financing options. But in fact, PYMNTS data shows more than six in 10, or 61.4%, of Americans making more than $100,000 a year use BNPL to splurge on everything from designer clothing to porcelain veneers to overseas travel.

While it’s not surprising that having more disposable income correlates with more spending on non-essentials, 13.5% of higher earners are using the payment method out of necessity. Maybe they have maxed out their credit cards and have an expensive auto repair. Maybe the card they want to use comes with perks and rewards that they want to tap into for another purchase.

What’s clear is that the alternative credit option has become mainstream for the majority of higher earners. Last December, Klarna, a major BNPL provider, announced that it had entered into partnerships with luxury retailers Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman.

Pay-later loans totaled $175 billion last year, according to “Pay Later Revolution: Redefining the Credit Economy,” and are part of the hyper-competitive Pay Later ecosystem, which includes credit cards — the foundation of consumer credit — and personal, auto, home equity and earned wage access loans.

The comprehensive PYMNTS Intelligence report, which includes data from a forthcoming study for Splitit, a pay-later provider, shows that near the end of 2024, more than one in three American consumers, or 38%, used the payment method, up from 24% in the prior year.

Need-driven shoppers remain a significant part of the pay-later total user base, representing 51.2% of adult American consumers. By contrast, affluent consumers who aren’t cash-strapped are primarily using the payment method for a key reason: convenience. Pay later allows them to manage their monthly cash flows and allocate spending on their credit cards. The takeaway: Pay later has evolved into a sophisticated financial tool for consumers who have access to traditional credit but are strategically choosing alternative payment methods. 

Pay later’s appeal for high-income consumers lies in several key factors:

• Cash Flow Management: Affluent consumers, despite their financial stability, like to spread out payments for both large and smaller purchases without immediately impacting their other credit lines or cash on hand. Doing so allows them to better manage their cash reserves and credit card usage and potentially allocate funds to other purchases, investments or other financial goals.
• Maximizing Rewards and Avoiding Credit Line Utilization: Many high-income individuals hold credit cards with lucrative rewards programs and pay off their balances in full each month (that rate is 61% for high-income shoppers who use BNPL for convenience). By using BNPL, they can enjoy the benefit of immediate gratification without increasing their credit utilization ratio or potentially incurring interest charges on their credit cards.
• Promotional Financing: Savvy consumers, regardless of their income, are drawn to the opportunity to finance purchases without incurring additional costs, especially for higher-value items or during promotional periods offered by merchants.

The evolving landscape of the Pay Later ecosystem reflects this broadening appeal. While pure-play BNPL providers including Affirm, Klarna and Afterpay initially focused on smaller-dollar transactions for a wider demographic, they are now expanding their offerings to include longer-term financing options for larger purchases, catering to a more diverse customer base.

Meanwhile, traditional banks are recognizing the consumer appeal of predictable monthly installments and are integrating installment options into their existing credit card products, such as American Express’s “Plan It,” Citibank’s “Flex Pay,” and Chase’s “My Chase Plan.” With bank-branded BNPL products now the most preferred Pay Later option among merchants, affluent consumers with higher credit limits can increasingly fold “Pay in 3” and “Pay in 4” BNPL installment plans into their pocketbooks.

Here are three key data points from the report that challenge the conventional perception of BNPL users:

• More than 60% of BNPL users who utilize the alternative payment method for convenience have an annual income exceeding $100,000.
• BNPL usage among all American consumers reached 38% toward the end of 2024, nearly matching the usage of general-purpose credit cards.
• A significant portion (40%) of online retailers now have direct integrations with BNPL providers, indicating its mainstream adoption across the retail landscape.

These figures highlight how the common perception of BNPL consumers as solely “broke borrowers” is a rapidly becoming outdated. The emergence of higher-income users of the payment method underscores how even wealthier shoppers see value in flexible payment options for a wide range of goods and services, from everyday essentials to luxury indulgences.

The post New PYMNTS Data Shows Affluent Shoppers Use Pay Later for Gucci and Groceries appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

Not all that long ago, the landscape was limited to the pure-play, nonbank platforms — the Affirms and the Klarnas of the world. However, as Splitit CEO Nandan Sheth told Karen Webster as part of the “Pay Later Unpacked” PYMNTS on Air series, “things are fairly fragmented right now,” especially for consumers who look to use transactional credit, seeking longer-term loans from a bank, and then for one-off solutions, moving toward traditional point-of-sale (POS) lenders.

Merchants are especially cognizant of the pressures on consumer spending in the current macro climate, so they want to drive loyalty and make transactions more palatable and affordable over time.

Lines are blurring as banks move into the pay-later space and firms like Klarna offer a broad array of financing options and ink pacts with financial institutions (FIs) and with platforms such as DoorDash. There’s already some evidence of commodification of paying over time, but no matter the combinations, a few principles hold true as consumers seek to discover merchants and find deals.

“If I’m a dominant credit provider, whether it’s Klarna or a J.P. Morgan Chase, there’s a value and a utility in consolidating the credit needs of a consumer off of my [own] platform,” Sheth said. “You’ll see more of that happening, and consumers will find it easier to deal with their trusted credit providers.”

Different Ways to Pay Later

Affirm is serving that utility through flexible credentials and flexible terms that allow different ways to pay — such as pay now, pay over the short term or pay over a longer term, Webster said.

Splitit works with banks to split the cost of purchases via credit card into interest-free installments, and such providers “are not driving consumers to adopt new credit,” Sheth said. “We’re letting them use a payment method they enjoy and get rewarded for that payment method, with ample protections in place for the merchants. It’s all about driving repeat purchases for our merchants and, in many cases, driving incremental value for that transaction.”

The economics and the optionality consumers value are on display in Klarna’s documentation to go public on the U.S. markets. In its filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Klarna chronicled how it started in Sweden two decades ago and more recently moved across Europe and into the United States.

“We’ve learned what BNPL, from a FinTech that’s a consumer lender, is providing to merchants and consumers,” Sheth said.

Seventy-five percent of the company’s top line comes from merchants, which underscores the scaling of merchant acceptance and consumer adoption, he said. The 75% revenue contribution indicates that not only are merchants paying for the 0% installments, but they’re paying for consumer adoption too, through marketing and other fees. Against that backdrop, the profitability of the model is still a work in progress. (Klarna’s net profit in 2024 was $21 million, a 109% improvement from a net loss of $244 million in 2023, per the filing.)

Drilling down a bit, 23% of Klarna users pay in full, the filing showed, offering evidence that the commerce ecosystem being forged is not predicated solely on financing but on the actual shopping and discovery experience.

“To get the consumer to start their buying journey not at the merchant but at the platform is difficult, and Klarna has done a good job of that,” Sheth said.

What the Issuers Want

The issuers have experimented with pay-later options primarily at the post-purchase level but are becoming interested in being integrated at the point of checkout and being embedded into the consumer journey itself, he said. However, merchants may balk at integrations with dozens or even hundreds of banks.

“To get to critical mass, an orchestration layer” and partnership with providers in the mold of Splitit “are the way to go,” Sheth said. “The banks are seeing this as an opportunity to participate in those ecosystems … educating the merchants and helping them make an informed decision is what we try to do.”

The Role of Banks

Looking ahead, banks are going to play a much larger role in pay later at checkout, and this push will be backed by partnerships with FinTechs, he said. Omnichannel pay-later options will be critical, as will rewards to keep driving consumer behavior and repeat purchases. Platforms will offer a greater number of embedded options.

“You’re seeing it with eCommerce platforms with Shopify, but you’ll start seeing this in non-traditional platforms too,” he told Webster. “… Merchants will continue to pay a lion’s share of the flexibility because they want the conversions and the opportunity for the additional basket sizes.”

The post Fragmentation Gives Way to Consolidation Across Pay-Later Landscape, Says Splitit CEO appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

The collaboration enables Stride Bank to continue expanding its payments programs with FinTech companies and helps Affirm extend its reach to more consumers and merchants, the companies said in a Tuesday (April 1) press release.

The Affirm Card had 1.7 million active cardholders as of Dec. 31, while Affirm’s network includes 21 million active consumers and 330,000 integrated merchants, according to the release. The card can be used in-store, online and anywhere Visa is accepted.

Stride Bank provides a full suite of traditional financial products and services in addition to being a leading card issuer, per the release.

“This relationship aligns perfectly with our desire to provide innovative and accessible financial solutions,” Jimmy Stallings, president of Stride Bank’s Payments Group, said in the release.

Vishal Kapoor, senior vice president of product at Affirm, said in the release: “Adding Stride Bank as a card issuing partner will help enable us to continue scaling Affirm Card while further strengthening and diversifying our platform so that we can improve millions more lives.”

Fixed-term plans like Affirm’s have a tailwind in the fact that young consumers are eschewing credit cards and are skeptical of taking on long-term, and possibly unmanageable debt, Affirm CEO Max Levchin told PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster in an interview posted March 27.

“We’ll do $35 billion this fiscal year, and the 20-plus million active users speaks for itself,” Levchin said.

Merchants benefit from increased conversion rates as cart abandonment rates plummet 28% and cart purchases increase 60% (as measured in dollars) when Affirm’s pay later options are in the mix, Levchin added.

On March 19, Affirm said it would begin furnishing information about all of its payment plans to credit reporting agency Experian on April 1. The company said that by doing so, it would help consumers build their credit histories and enable both consumers and merchants to make more informed decisions.

The post Stride Bank Becomes Card Issuing Partner for Affirm Card appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

From apparel to electronics to medical bills, today’s shoppers increasingly expect a flexible payment solution at checkout, and for that, no company worth its salt can afford to miss out on the revenue and the customer experience.

The trend certainly has attracted attention at Mastercard. As part of the “Pay Later Unpacked” virtual event at PYMNTS, Seema Chibber, executive vice president of Core Products for the Americas, shared insights into how Mastercard aims to integrate installment and BNPL features more deeply into its network infrastructure, the company’s partnership-driven approach, and the potential to expand BNPL into verticals beyond retail.

Asked about Mastercard’s overarching vision for installments and how it supports the company’s network role, Chibber underscored the need for versatile solutions that fit a rapidly changing ecosystem.

“We’ve literally seen an explosion in the preference for installments,” she said. “And when you put it all together — people seeking expanded buying power, control and financial management, and the flexibility and convenience of a digital experience — we had to be ahead of this trend. That is why we’ve been investing in capabilities that are versatile, so whether it’s a buy now, pay later option offered by a FinTech, a traditional issuer’s credit program or a debit-based solution, Mastercard is embedding installments right into the payments experience.”

Following the Consumer

Central to this approach is Mastercard’s commitment to evolving its payments infrastructure to accommodate shifting consumer tastes. The company’s installments strategy is not a side project or temporary add-on, Chibber said. Rather, it is a suite of capabilities woven into the broader network, offering seamless integration for businesses and consistent, familiar experiences for end users.

Mastercard has worked to ensure that its rules, franchise governance, security protocols and settlement guarantees fully align with installment-based transactions, she said. By providing a unified ecosystem that can accept, process and secure installment payments, Mastercard aims to alleviate technical hurdles for merchants and financial institutions.

Partnerships are key to achieving this scale. Whether the company works with Affirm or established financial institutions like J.P. Morgan, Galileo and other acquirers, Mastercard’s guiding principle is a “partner-first” framework, Chibber said. Because “no one size fits all” in BNPL, Mastercard has built a broad set of tools — APIs, rule frameworks and security protocols — that can be adapted to each partner’s unique requirements.

The goal is to provide universal acceptance of BNPL while respecting that a global retailer’s priorities may be different from those of a local healthcare provider and that a large financial institution’s requirements differ from a technology startup’s.

Mastercard’s emphasis on partnership also informs how it plans to expand BNPL into new verticals. Although many consumers first encountered installments at retail checkouts for electronics or clothing, the company sees strong potential for growth in areas like healthcare, professional services and B2B transactions, Chibber said.

Large-ticket items — like hospital bills or small business expenses — are prime candidates for installment plans. However, bringing BNPL to these “alternate industries” can introduce new challenges around acceptance infrastructure and technology integration, she said.

Mastercard’s tactic is to use the foundation of its payment franchise: secure interoperability, guaranteed settlement and robust rules. These features give verticals such as healthcare and professional services “comfort to embark on building out their acceptance infrastructures, riding off of the promise of the franchise of Mastercard,” Chibber said.

Responsible Growth

Amid industry discussions about credit risk and rising scrutiny of BNPL offerings, Mastercard’s philosophy is to grow responsibly, she said. The company has historically adhered to regulatory requirements in every region where it operates. Its BNPL product suite is no exception. Mastercard must conform to local lending and credit regulations, and it sets franchise rules that establish baseline standards for safety, transparency and consumer protection.

“We strictly comply with regulatory requirements,” Chibber said, acknowledging that some partners may be more conservative in risk management than others. “But the credibility of the Mastercard promise is critical. And as the regulatory landscape evolves, we’ll continue to honor these obligations.”

Looking ahead, Chibber said she sees the future of BNPL, installments and payments more broadly converging into a seamless, embedded experience — one that removes friction for users and merchants.

In describing a blueprint for the next generation of payment flexibility, she highlighted Mastercard’s move toward innovations such as tokenization, biometric authentication and, in particular, the Mastercard One Credential. This new offering could let a single credential link to multiple payment options — credit, debit, BNPL — giving consumers a unified profile at checkout and minimizing the need to toggle between different accounts or financing offers.

“Embedded is the way to go,” she said. “The consumer won’t accept friction or separate siloed journeys. It’s going to be more connected, more invisible, more convenient.”

Chibber’s perspective reveals a network embracing a fluid ecosystem in which digital commerce blends with embedded finance. As BNPL matures and seeks opportunities beyond consumer retail, Mastercard’s unified approach — folding installments into the core network, using franchise rules, emphasizing partner collaboration and adopting emerging technologies — aims to meet the demand for flexible, transparent payments.

Companies in industries from healthcare to home improvement to B2B distribution — the thinking goes — may soon view BNPL as standard rather than novel, just another payment option with the safety net of a major network behind it.

The post Mastercard Sets Sights Beyond Retail as It Embeds BNPL Into Network appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

Consumers don’t think of pay later options as credit, at least not in the traditional sense. They see a finite timeline over weeks or months, and a point at which all has been paid off.

As Affirm founder and CEO Max Levchin told Karen Webster in a discussion featured during the “Pay Later Unpacked” event held by PYMNTS On Air, “the sense of clarity of when [payments] start and end is powerful… The appeal of pay later is not that it’s some cool way of borrowing money. It’s the sense of control around the schedule and the plan that you create.”

There’s also appeal for merchants, who want to boost their conversion rates. In terms of customer-centric costs, merchants can spend more than 30% of gross sales just to get customers’ attention, Levchin said. Once consumers arrive at the checkout counter, whether virtual or brick-and-mortar, merchants want them to pull the trigger and close the sale.

The 13-Year-Old Startup

Thirteen years into its journey of still thinking like a startup, Levchin’s Affirm is tied to merchant sites and has been embedded in commerce and digital wallets. The company has its own merchant marketplace, a financial services platform and a discovery platform for merchants to enable 0% financing offers.

“We’re a payments network,” Levchin said, adding that “we are, today, in the world of network comparable like American Express … I’ve often compared Affirm to a sort of aspirational Amex. We want to be thought of as the company that stands behind the consumer in a way that goes above and beyond.”

The competitive landscape is growing ever crowded as, for instance, banks enter the pay later fray, and with a nod to the fact that banks may have a distribution advantage, Levchin said Affirm can “move at 10 times the speed of any bank.”

Beyond the banks, one can find pay later across a broad range of checkouts, which has been gaining momentum through the past half-decade, he said. What was once an interesting idea is now part of the standard package offerings of commerce at the point of sale.

“This is no longer optional,” Levchin said. “There has never been a monopoly in payments, and we want the market to be competitive… The fact that traditional bank card issuers are waking up to the power of these fixed-term plans” helps drive awareness and adoption.

By the Numbers

There’s a tailwind in the fact that young consumers are eschewing credit cards, said Levchin, who added that they’re skeptical of taking on long-term, and possibly unmanageable, debt. For Affirm, the proof lies in the numbers.

“We’ll do $35 billion this fiscal year, and the 20-plus million active users speaks for itself,” he said.

Repeat purchases are accelerating as recurring behavior refutes the notion that pay later options simply gain on the heels of new accounts and first-time users who may be overextending themselves. Levchin also pointed to the fact that merchants benefit from increased conversion rates as cart abandonment rates plummet 28% and cart purchases increase 60% (as measured in dollars) when Affirm’s pay later options are in the mix.

Affirm is cannibalizing credit card transactions from banks, Levchin said.

“The stratification of our offerings is very clear,” said Levchin, who added, “We’re not the least expensive [options for merchants], and we don’t compete on price. We complete on being able to say yes more often by driving higher conversions and taking good care of the customer… We don’t charge them late fees.”

That model is a moral one, with steady and transparent merchant fees, in contrast to the money that is made by competitors on late fees and other charges that stack up when, as Levchin said, consumers are paying the least attention.

Affirm’s app also lets users see their purchasing power at any given time, and feedback conveyed to consumers can help them decide whether a purchase is too large or may take too long to pay back (and requires a down payment), he said.

The Affirm Card

Levchin has said in presentations and on analyst calls that the “Affirm Card is the best manifestation of how to use Affirm.” Simple math offers insight into the economics of capturing 20 million users, whose average household income stands at $75,0000 — and 10% of that, at $7,500, is a reasonable share of spending that could make its way onto those cards connected to third-party accounts. Grocery remains a key area of spending on those cards, although paying over time can just as easily cover a $2,000 meal in Las Vegas or even a medical procedure.

Looking ahead, Affirm will allow other issuers onto its network, and through its February pact with FIS, the Affirm Card construct will be offered to any bank that wants to add pay later functionality to its debit cards.

“Over time, we will look more and more like what Amex does today,” Levchin said. “You can get an Amex branded card from a bank that is not American Express.”

Although the political and regulatory climate is uncertain at the moment, and the fate of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has yet to be determined, there are still indications that regulators are curious about technology and its benefits in payments.

From a macro and industry-wide point of view, Levchin told Webster that although he remains watchful, there are no signs of recession-like impacts hitting the portfolio — and the short-term (four-month) durations of the loans mean they are paid off quickly.

“There’s a certain degree of natural accretion toward products like ours that happen in a more cautious consumer environment,” he told Webster, adding, “When there’s stress in the news and stress in the stock market, you want to know that the purchase is not going to put you under. Being able to say, ‘There’s a plan, and I know when the plan ends,’ is a nice feeling.”

The post Affirm’s Levchin Sees Company Becoming the American Express of Buy Now, Pay Later appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

This capability is enabled by Splitit’s new embedded Shopify app, Splitit Card Installments, which gives shoppers a choice between paying in full or in installments directly within the credit card section, the company said in a Tuesday (March 25) press release.

The fully embedded, white-label installment solution allows Shopify merchants to offer branded installment options while keeping control over their customer journey and data, as their customers don’t have to leave the merchant’s ecosystem, according to the release.

For merchants’ customers, the solution provides a one-click installment payment experience with no redirects or applications, the release said.

The Splitit app caters to shoppers in over 100 countries, enables merchants to offer localized payment options and is now available to Shopify merchants worldwide, per the release.

“Our embedded Shopify app marks a transformative leap in the installment payment landscape,” Splitit Chief Technology Officer Ran Landau said in the release. “By seamlessly integrating into the Shopify checkout, we’ve eliminated the friction typically associated with pay-over-time solutions, a key factor in cart abandonment.”

Merchants can capture consumer spending by strategically using pay later options, according to the PYMNTS Intelligence report “Maximizing Holiday Revenue: The Strategic Value of Early Pay Later Visibility.”

The report found that showcasing pay later options before checkout drives consumer adoption and boosts sales, promoting pay later solutions early in the journey can shift consumer loyalty and increase conversion rates, and emphasizing installment options early can attract both repeat users and new customers.

Simplicity is key because presenting consumers with complex pay-over-time options sows confusion, Splitit CEO Nandan Sheth told PYMNTS in an interview posted in December.

Offering card-linked installments keeps things simple by giving consumers the ability to pay with installments on existing vehicles where they already have credit, Sheth said.

Embedding the issuer’s installments deep into commerce experiences “fits with the merchant’s brand, with the merchant’s strategy and their consumer base — and drives a lot of value … it’s not just about driving the sale for today but ensuring that the customer comes back to your brand,” Sheth said.

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A report Saturday (March 8) by the Financial Times (FT) examines this trend, using the example of JPMorgan Chase’s recent partnership with Klarna to offer installment loans to its 900,000 business clients.

Citi, meanwhile, began offering deferred payment loans through Apple Pay in January, becoming the first big bank to partner to team with the tech giant on that front.

The FT said banking giants want to expand into the growing buy now, pay later (BNPL) space amid a rollback in regulations governing deferred payments lending, and the fees that providers can charge.

In addition, the report added, big banks’ retail business are facing pressure from rising interest rates and competition from FinTechs.

“This is one of the big reasons banks have lost some market share to FinTechs, so this is partly a defensive move,” said Aaron McPherson, founder of AFM Consulting. “Other banks will follow.”

For example, the report said, profits for Citi’s U.S. personal banking business — which includes credit cards and domestic retail banking — dropped 24% last year. Part of the reason for the decline, the FT said, has been the growth of BNPL plans, which have been taking customers from banks’ credit card divisions.

PYMNTS noted as much last week in a report on credit card debt data from the Federal Reserve, writing that the scaling back on traditional avenues of credit could mean that consumers are choosing instead to take on BNPL plans, tied to debit accounts.

“The torrid pace of activity at the likes of Sezzle and Affirm — as many categories saw double-digit spending (and Sezzle notched triple-digit revenue growth) — has far outstripped the growth in the Fed’s data,” that report said.

“PYMNTS Intelligence has estimated that credit card debt has become fairly ubiquitous: Among high-income cardholders annually earning more than $100,000, 75% have an outstanding credit balance. This share is the same for middle-income cardholders annually earning between $50,000 and $100,000.”

The report added that a similar share of lower-income consumers — people earning less than $50,000 per year — carry balances on their credit cards.

And as covered here last week, BNPL plans are popular among consumers of all income brackets. While 75% of people who live paycheck to paycheck have used these plans in the last year, the trend is not confined to low-income households. 

“Even consumers earning more than $100,000 annually are turning to installment plans, signaling that these options appeal across all financial levels,” PYMNTS wrote.

The post Big Banks Work to Carve Out Piece of BNPL Space appeared first on PYMNTS.com.

The PYMNTS Intelligence eBook “10 Impact Statements: The 2024 Pay Later Report” explored how these installment plans are being used, who benefits from them and the reasons behind their adoption. The findings revealed key trends in consumer payment preferences and offered insights into the future of financial flexibility.

Financial Struggles Drive Pay Later Adoption

For many consumers, pay later plans are a tool for managing day-to-day expenses. Among those living paycheck to paycheck, 75% have turned to these plans within the past year. This trend is not limited to low-income households. Even consumers earning more than $100,000 annually are turning to installment plans, signaling that these options appeal across all financial levels.

Consumers who face difficulty paying bills were four times more likely to use these plans than those with a more stable financial situation, per the eBook. This suggests pay later options are not only a financial lifeline, but also a preferred choice for many consumers looking to manage their budgets.

Convenience and Rewards for Financially Stable Consumers

While pay later plans are often a necessity for those facing financial hardships, they are also appealing to more financially secure individuals. According to the eBook, 18% of non-paycheck-to-paycheck consumers used these plans primarily for convenience, with 15% also seeking rewards.

The desire for easy, budget-friendly payment options is impacting how consumers approach large and small purchases. Many consumers, regardless of income level, used installment plans to streamline spending and preserve their cash reserves, the eBook found. These plans were seen as an effective way to manage spending without sacrificing immediate needs.

Timing Is Key for Pay Later Plan Success

When it comes to using pay later options, timing plays a role in consumer satisfaction. According to the report, 47% of consumers who used general-purpose credit card installment plans learned about them before completing their purchase. Thus, merchants who present pay-later options earlier in the purchase process can increase use.

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) plans, which are typically presented at checkout, received higher satisfaction rates, as 76% of BNPL users reported being very or extremely satisfied with the service.

According to the eBook, more than 60% of consumers preferred to know about these options before they decided what to buy, emphasizing the importance of visibility in driving consumer engagement.

Many consumers expressed the intention to continue using pay later services. The demand for flexible payment solutions across different income groups is expected to rise, making it important for businesses to adjust to changing consumer expectations.

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The fourth quarter saw revenues double to $98.2 million. Gross merchandise volumes (GMV) were 42% higher to $855.4 million. Total active customers were up 4.8% to 2.7 million, and unique merchant tallies were 339,000 higher to 598,000.

Monthly On-Demand and Subscriber rosters grew by 400,000 year over year to a recent 707,000 customers. Consumer order frequency also grew to 14.1, from 10.2 last year. Repeat orders as a percentage of total orders was 96%.

Early Innings

Charlie Youakim, CEO, said on the conference call with analysts that BNPL and the company’s growth potential are considerable, noting that “to say that we are in early innings is an understatement. … While we continue to ride the BNPL wave, we also believe that we can continue to outpace and take share within the segment.” 

As for the appeal of the payment method, “The BNPL product can give users greater flexibility in payments and match their payments to their budgeting needs. And in a worst case scenario, it can help users avoid the cycle of debt — because if they can’t make a payment, then they aren’t allowed to make another purchase. The same can’t be said for some other payment methods.”

He said that the On-Demand offering, launched through the banking partnership with WebBank, which lets consumers finance a purchase with a down payment while paying the remainder over time, has seen success.

“We are excited by this increase in activity as On-Demand was live on a limited basis in the quarter because we were still rolling it out to all users. We tend to roll out products gradually as we launch them,” said the CEO. Later in the call, he said that “On-Demand has a much lower barrier to entry than our subscription products. And over time, we believe it’ll become a bridge into subscriptions.”

Guidance Sends Stock Surging

In looking ahead, the company anticipates, as Youakim said, “double-digit revenue growth with our pretax net income rising at least 55% compared to 2024.” Company materials noted that the firm sees 25% to 30% top line growth for the full year 2025.

Shares rose 17% after hours.

In discussing other initiatives, Youakim said, “Our products marketplace continues to gain momentum, as orders placed there averaged a growth rate of 39 [percent] month-over-month growth during 2024.

“I’m also very excited about couponing. … We believe this product will solve a need for our customers, increasing their retention and loyalty to us, all while we pull in adjacent customer groups that we can introduce buy now, pay later to.”

The full impact of these products won’t be seen for a few quarters, he said. In the meantime, the activation rates of users downloading the Sezzle mobile app to placing an order have risen 35% from September to January, according to commentary on the call.

CFO Karen Hartje said on the call that credit performance was in line with expectations, and loss provisions should be in the range of 2.5% to 3% of gross merchandise value in 2025.

During the question-and-answer session with analysts, and asked about On-Demand, Youakim said, “Through 2025, we’re probably going to continue to lead with On-Demand, and then watch the customer utilize that product … and then probably start to introduce them to subscription again.”

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