SALT LAKE CITY — Shoppers used to use “buy now, pay later” to buy life’s finer things: 4K televisions, gaming consoles, designer handbags, etc. Now, a lot more people are using short-term loans for life’s necessities.

“That all adds up to not a real pretty picture,” warned Matt Schulz, LendingTree’s chief consumer finance analyst, who shared its latest look at the use of “buy now, pay later” with the KSL Investigators.

47% of the “buy now, pay later” shoppers surveyed by LendingTree said they have been late on at least one payment in the past year. Two years ago, that number was 34%.

The percentage of people who paid for their groceries over time doubled from 14% in 2024 to 29% in 2026. And 54% of “buy now, pay later” users said they need the short-term loans just to make ends meet.

Schulz said add those stats to today’s continuously rising prices on nearly everything, and you have a volatile mix.

“You can end up stacking multiples (loans) on top of each other, and building up some debt pretty quickly,” Schulz said.

It is a slippery slope. In fact, a quarter of Americans have had at least three “buy now, pay later” loans at the same time. And 68% said they’ve been led to overspend.

“‘Buy now, pay later’ can be a really good thing and really helpful if you use it wisely and thoughtfully and in the right situation,” said Schulz. “But it is also pretty easy to get yourself in some trouble with it because it’s so easy to get and so easy to access. You can turn anyone into an overspender.”

To keep short-term loans in check, don’t use them for staples. Paying for next week’s groceries becomes even harder when you’re still paying for last week’s groceries. Don’t take out multiple loans. Know the fine print of your “buy now, pay later” loan: fees, payment schedules and what happens if you miss a payment.

And slow down. Schulz recommends leaving a potential purchase in the cart for 24 hours.

“If it’s still something that you think makes sense for you after that cooling-off period, then go ahead, knock yourself out,” said Schulz. “That can be a way to kind of short-circuit the kind of instant gratification of ‘buy now, pay later.'”

One more thing you should know: “Buy now, pay later” loans now turn up in credit reports. So, getting behind on payments could turn a short-term loan into long-term damage for your credit.

The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.