BNPL Loans Hide Risks for Financially Fragile Shoppers

Financially fragile consumers with low credit scores use BNPL over 3 times more frequently than financially stable consumers. Nearly 60% of fragile users make 5+ BNPL purchases per year.

Fragile BNPL users tend to make small, frequent purchases under $250 that they may not otherwise be able to afford.

Stable BNPL consumers use the loans to finance larger purchases between $1,750-$2,000.

Lack of BNPL data and regulations makes it hard to track how much additional "phantom" consumer debt is being accumulated.

It's rare for any BNPL user to only use the loans once - about 72% of stable and 89% of fragile users make multiple BNPL purchases per year.