50% of US consumers under 40 used Buy Now Pay Later to make a purchase in the past 90 days, according to JD Power; image credit: Immersion Imagery/shutterstock

BNPL usage in the US continues to rise but there is a notable divergence in overall satisfaction between bank-based BNPL services (up from last year) and fintech BNPL brands (down from last year).
The JD Power 2026 US Buy Now Pay Later Satisfaction Study concludes that there is an opportunity for traditional financial institutions to keep their relationships with customers even as they face heavy competition. In particular, checkout and point-of-sale represents a key opportunity for bank brands.

Some 37% of consumers in the US made a purchase using BNPL in the past 90 days, a 5-percentage-point increase in just one year, according to the report.

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More than half (52%) of decisions to use credit card fixed-payment plans occur after purchase when reviewing/paying credit card bills, while 48% occur at checkout/point-of-sale

JD Power 2026 US Buy Now Pay Later Satisfaction Study – key takeaways

Customer satisfaction rises sharply for bank brands. 

Though bank-branded BNPL services still represent just a fraction of total BNPL spending, the average overall customer satisfaction score for bank-based BNPL services is 704 (on a 1,000-point scale), up 59 points from last year’s study. By contrast, customer satisfaction with FinTech BNPL brands is 603, which is down 17 points from last year.

Most customers pay off BNPL in four instalments, using debit cards

The “pay in four” instalment schedule is by far the most common BNPL format used, with 82% of FinTech customers and 73% of bank customers paying off their purchases in four equal installments. Debit cards are the most widely used form of payment, with 64% of FinTech customers linking their BNPL payments to a debit card.

Chase ranks highest in BNPL satisfaction, with a score of 706, on a 1,000 point scale.  Plan It by American Express (703) ranks second and Citi Flex Pay (687) ranks third. Sezzle (624) ranks a rather distant fourth, ahead of Zip (611), Afterpay (607) and PayPal (604) with Affirm (598) and Klarna (596) bringing up the rear.