Survey Finds Gen Z Using BNPL More than Credit Cards

A recent J.D. Power survey found that Gen Z consumers are more likely to use Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) products than traditional credit cards, which marks the first time this finding has appeared in poll results. The analytics firm surveyed about 4,300 U.S. consumers, including about 1,000 Gen Z members, on their spending habits last year, notably for the 2024 holiday season, and found that 54 percent of Gen Z used BNPL during that time period while only 50 percent of Gen Z consumers used credit cards. 

Sean Gelles, senior director of payments intelligence at J.D. Power, noted that this result was not entirely unexpected. “These products are meeting a need that is not being met by the existing products in the marketplace,” he said, according to Payments Dive. BNPL companies often have high satisfaction rates among consumers, but credit card companies also generally have high marks.

For all of 2024, 44 percent of Gen Z said they used BNPL while 50 percent said they used credit cards. Among all consumers surveyed, 32 percent said they used BNPL products last year, up 4 percent from 2023. Credit card usage among all respondents was 61 percent in 2024, down 6 percent from 2023. However, banks and credit card networks have started to create their own BNPL products.

“You can’t really generalize and say Gen Z are using buy now, pay later, more than credit cards,” Gelles said. “But you can say that during the holiday shopping season, when you have this big spike in spending, a higher percentage of Gen Zers say they use buy now, pay later at the point of sale than their actual physical credit card.”

American Express and JPMorgan Chase both received the highest marks from surveyed consumers, and both offer card-based BNPL products. Additionally, Klarna’s BNPL product was the highest-rated among BNPL companies, placing it fourth behind Citi Flex Pay.