Buy-now-pay-later plans have continued to grow, but the pace has been slowing over the past two years, according to a report from the nation's largest payments CUSO.
Velera's Payments Index report released Wednesday combined BNPL payments via debit and credit cards for Affirm, Afterpay, Klarna, PayPal, Zip (formerly QuadPay), Sezzle, Sunbit and Flex Pay by Upgrade (formerly Uplift).
The average BNPL debit payment with these top providers was $42.45 in 2025, up 9% from $39.04 in 2024.
Debit payment growth has been slowing steadily over the past two years, but it still shows gains across all generations. For credit payments, growth among younger consumers last year was offset by declines among older consumers.
The typical plan has four payments for each purchase over four to six months. But long-term plans can span six to 72 months.
According to PYMNTS Intelligence, BNPL and card installment plans have moved beyond seasonal adoption and point-of-sale convenience and into everyday money management, as consumers look to smooth cash flow and afford everyday items like groceries and utilities.
BNPL use generally runs outside the view of lenders, but FICO has announced plans to add BNPL to credit score models in the near future because of its growing popularity and predictiveness for consumer credit risk.
Affirm, Afterpay and Klarna represented about three-quarters of last year's BNPL payments. Affirm made the largest contribution to the BNPL growth rate for 2025 among BNPL providers, with a 32% share of BNPL debit payments and a 29% annual growth rate.
Among generations, Younger Gen Z (who turn 14 to 20 this year) had the largest year-over-year growth in BNPL payments in 2025, which rose 80% from 2024. They were followed by Gen X (+27%), while growth was only 12% for those 62 or older.
The share of debit payments and the average amounts in 2025 by age group were:
- Younger Gen Z (14-20) accounted for 2% of debit payments in 2025 with average payments of $41.50.
- Older Gen Z (21-29) accounted for 15% of debit payments in 2025 with average payments of $45.24.
- Younger millennials (30-36) accounted for 21% of debit payments in 2025 with average payments of $44.92.
- Older millennials (37-45) accounted for 25% of debit payments in 2025 with average payments of $44.90.
- Gen X (46-61) accounted for 28% of debit payments in 2025 with average payments of $42.09.
- Boomers and older (62-plus) accounted for 9% of debit payments in 2025 with average payments of $31.94.
Beyond BNPL, Velera's monthly report showed its affiliated credit union member spending by debit in January grew at an annual rate exceeding inflation, while their credit card purchases tracked it.
For credit cards, purchases rose 2.5%, while the number of transactions rose 2.4%. For debit, purchases rose 6%, while transactions grew 3.4%.
Velera bases its Payments Index on data from credit unions that have been processing payments with it since January 2023. This month's report encompassed 3.6 billion transactions valued at $182 billion of credit and debit card activity in the 12 months ending Jan. 31.
Contact Jim DuPlessis at Jim.DuPlessis@arc-network.com.
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