Credit-reporting beliefs, affordability-related use and self-reported late payment among U.S. buy-now-pay-later users: a cross-sectional analysis of the 2025 SHED

Abstract Buy now, pay later (BNPL) credit can relax immediate payment constraints but creates future obligations shaped by information, product use and household resources. This study compares credit-reporting beliefs and affordability-related use as correlates of self-reported late payment. We analyzed the public 2025 U.S. Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking and its analytical domain of 2,004 past-year BNPL users, 487 of whom reported any late payment. Survey-weighted logistic models were summarized using standardized probabilities and risk differences. Only 14.5% of users rejected both credit-reporting statements in accordance with the survey-time benchmark; 31.4% were uncertain and 54.1% accepted at least one statement. In a common expanded specification, benchmark-discordant agreement differed by + 0.2 percentage points from the benchmark-consistent category (95% confidence interval − 5.3 to + 5.7). Relative to their reference categories, standardized risk differences were + 16.5 points for the affordability motive (95% confidence interval + 12.0 to + 20.9), + 10.9 for groceries-or-medical use (+ 6.2 to + 15.6), + 8.9 for three or more versus zero or one other-purpose categories (+ 2.8 to + 15.1), and + 8.1 for financial strain (+ 3.7 to + 12.5). Because the affordability motive concerns the most recent purchase whereas the outcome records any late payment in the preceding year, these are respondent-level cross-sectional contrasts, not transaction-matched or causal effects. Taken together, the estimates suggest that survey-benchmark reporting beliefs and the affordability context of BNPL use provide different descriptive information about self-reported late payment. JEL Classification: D14; D83; G41; G51