No One Can Figure Out the Buy Now, Pay Later Customer. That's Worrisome.

Plus, a Bitcoin miner looks for new ground.

Number of the Week: $100 million (explanation below)

No One Can Figure Out the Buy Now, Pay Later Customer. That’s Worrisome.

You’d like to believe that more data brings more clarity, and...sorta? A fuller picture of the U.S. usage of Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) services continues to emerge, yet it contains surprises, contradictions and areas of concern. This week, two major surveys of BNPL users were released, one from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and one from Morning Consult.

First, a bit of background: As FIN readers know, BNPL usage has skyrocketed in recent years in the U.S., UK, Europe and Australia (even if the big BNPL companies aren’t profitable). Especially given the usurious rates charged by credit cards, BNPL’s appeal to consumers is obvious, but many critics fear that it can lead to damaging debt for consumers. A year ago, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a report on the rise of BNPL, with board chair Rohit Chopra saying “In some ways, these firms aren’t just lenders, they are also advertisers and virtual mall operators,” and that in some circumstances BNPL was creating “chaos” for consumers.

This week’s surveys deepen those fears and ostensibly provide a clearer view of who American BNPL users are.