Nearly a tenth of Americans, 8%, have used Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) credit financing for online purchases in the last year, a 2x increase since 2021, a new report finds.
YouGov’s new report Buy Now, Pay Later, Credit Never? details how Americans across every generation have increased adoption of BNPL since 2021, with millennials representing the largest growth segment (increasing by 91%). Meanwhile, online credit card usage among US millennials has dropped by 4% during the same time period.
The report identifies that among US BNPL users:
- 49% have less than $1,000 saved (vs 30% gen pop)
- 74% agree with the statement “I wish all stores had user friendly apps to make it easy to buy things from my phone” (vs 54% gen pop)
- 26% have purchased jewelry online (vs 12% credit card users), 25% have purchased appliances online (vs 11%), and 23% have purchased mattresses online (vs 16%)
“Millennials may have trust issues after first getting exposed to the financial industry around the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis,” said Ryan Gmerek, VP at YouGov America. “It's not surprising to see that they are more willing than other generations, even Gen Z, to embrace challenger financial brands and business models like BNPL.”
The report also identifies credit card brands they would consider next time they’re in-market for a credit card, with Capital One leading the pack.
YouGov’s report is available for download here.
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