Survey: Consumers' BNPL habits include...
A large portion of consumers – especially younger ones – have an active buy now, pay later (BNPL) plan.
Two-in-five (40%) consumers surveyed by debt relief company Freedom Debut Relief have an active BNPL plan, with the typical borrower managing two at once on top of an average of three paid subscriptions.
Millennials ranked highest, with 43% holding at least one open BNPL plan, followed closely by 40% of Gen Z and 39% of Gen X. Only 28% of baby boomers have a BNPL plan that is active. Credit card owners were far more likely to use BNPL than people without a card, at 42% versus 23%.
Nearly a third of survey respondents (31%) have opened a new BNPL plan or financing offer while still repaying an older one. That overlap was most common among millennials (35%) and Gen Z (31%), compared with 26% of Gen X and 22% of baby boomers.
Nearly one-in-five (17%) survey respondents have turned to BNPL plans for essentials like groceries, household bills or gas. Younger generations leaned on it most, with 21% of Gen Z and 20% of millennials using BNPL this way, roughly double the rate of Gen X (12%) and baby boomers (9%).
Twenty-one percent of respondents have used BNPL to stretch their spending until payday. This is more common among Gen Z (28%) and millennials (23%), and far less common among Gen X (16%) and baby boomers (10%).
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Despite the widespread usage, only 20% of those surveyed who used BNPL and convenience financing felt more in control of their money. Uncertainty was highest among Gen Z, where 77% were unsure of the total they owed across their plans, compared with 72% of millennials, 62% of Gen X and just over half (53%) of baby boomers.
“Buy now, pay later and other forms of convenience financing might make spending feel lighter in the moment, even as the payments add up in the background,” noted Freedom Debt Relief. “The data showed how easily a few small plans could turn into a second layer of debt that you could struggle to track.”
Freedom Debt Relief conducted its survey of the 1,010 U.S. adults in July 2026.
