Buy Now Pay Later Lending Volume
Also tracked as Phantom Debt
A year's pay-in-four lending by six large providers
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The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reported that Affirm, Cash App Afterpay, Klarna, PayPal, Sezzle and Zip made $43.9 billion in pay-in-four loans in 2023, up from $33.4 billion in 2022, in dollars not adjusted for inflation. It is a year's lending by six large firms, not a balance owed and not the whole market. Source: CFPB, The Buy Now, Pay Later Market (December 2025).
Measurement basis: How much money six large buy now, pay later lenders — Affirm, Cash App Afterpay, Klarna, PayPal, Sezzle and Zip — lent out over a calendar year, in that year's own dollars, as reported by the CFPB for 2019 through 2023. It counts pay-in-four loans only: point-of-sale installment loans and credit card installment plans are not in it. It is a flow, the lending done during the year, not a balance anyone owes at a moment in time. The CFPB puts these six firms at roughly forty percent of the overall point-of-sale financing market in 2023 and says its sample is not necessarily representative of the whole buy now, pay later market, so this is a large slice of the market and not the market.
Six large buy now, pay later lenders made $43.9 billion in pay-in-four loans in 2023, the CFPB reported.
The CFPB collected lending totals from Affirm, Cash App Afterpay, Klarna, PayPal, Sezzle and Zip for 2019 through 2023. In 2023 the six made $43.9 billion in pay-in-four loans, counted in that year's own dollars, up from $33.4 billion in 2022. It is the most in the CFPB's series, which starts in 2019, in dollars not adjusted for inflation. In 2019 the same firms made $2.2 billion.
A pay-in-four loan splits a purchase into four payments, usually a quarter at checkout and the rest every two weeks, with no interest. The total counts loans made during each year, not what borrowers owed at any one time. The CFPB puts these six firms at about 40% of the wider point-of-sale financing market in 2023 and says its sample does not necessarily represent the whole buy now, pay later market.
The CFPB has published no schedule for another edition of its report. Later estimates from other researchers use different methods and are not the same measure.
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Are you using buy-now-pay-later to spread out purchases you used to pay for upfront?
Buy Now Pay Later Lending Volume over time: what has changed?
Counties with the highest safety net and buffer scores
These are safety net and buffer scores from our County Distress Index, not county readings of Buy Now Pay Later Lending Volume.
Explore all 3,144 counties →| Period | Value | YoY Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | $43.9B | +$10.5B |
| 2022 | $33.4B | +$7.9B |
| 2021 | $25.5B | +$16.6B |
| 2020 | $8.9B | +$6.7B |
| 2019 | $2.2B | — |
Frequently Asked Questions
How large is the buy now, pay later market?
There is no official total for the whole market. The CFPB's figures cover six large lenders, which made $43.9 billion in pay-in-four loans in 2023. The CFPB says that sample does not necessarily represent the entire market.
Is this how much people owe on BNPL loans?
No. It is the value of loans made over a year. Because pay-in-four loans are repaid in about six weeks, the amount owed at any moment is far smaller than a year's lending.
Where does the BNPL data come from?
The CFPB's report The Buy Now, Pay Later Market (December 2025), Appendix Table 5, which gives the dollars of pay-in-four loans the six firms made each calendar year from 2019 through 2023. The firms reported the totals to the CFPB. The report's main tables show the same figures adjusted to 2024 dollars.
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