Charlie . 1st Aug, 2025 2:10 PM
The share of Gen Z and Millennials with a BNPL payment has increased at a faster rate this year compared to the last
Additionally, a recent National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) study found that consumers may use these types of platforms to make purchases they might otherwise not have made or spend more than they had initially planned2 . This might be why BNPL users have more debt, lower credit scores and higher delinquency rates, according to the Bank of International Settlements3 . So, in our view, this acceleration in BNPL adoption among the young is worth monitoring. But while there are signs of some pressures on younger generations, it appears that this is not necessarily a generalized phenomenon across this generation, but more of story about the ‘tails of the distribution’. In particular, the median deposit level of Gen Z and Millennials remains elevated compared to 2019 levels in Bank of America data. So, the younger households in the middle of the distribution do not appear to be running down their savings in the face of higher costs. In fact, across all generations except Traditionalists, median deposit levels are at least 48% above 2019 levels and 21% above on an inflation adjusted basis, according to Bank of America deposit data.
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