In its latest Survey of Household Economics and Decision making, or SHED, report, the Fed found that 24% of BNPL users were behind on payments in 2024, up from 18% in 2023. More than half of those late payers, 13% of the total user base, were charged extra because of their delinquency. Overall use of installment payment services ticked up from 14% to 15%, according to the survey. Low-income borrowers were the most likely to miss payments, according to the survey, with 40% of users earning less than $25,000 a year reporting a delinquency. Among consumers earning between $25,000 and $49,999 — the income group with the highest reported BNPL usage rate at 19% — 26% said they paid late last year. Delinquencies were also more common among younger demographics, with 32% of 18- to 29-year-olds reporting at least one late payment last year. Black and Hispanic consumers — who had the highest usage rates of BNPL products at 25% and 21%, respectively — also had higher than average late payment rates, at 29% and 32%. Most BNPL users turned to the product because of personal preferences, with 87% saying they did so to spread out payments over time and 82% reporting that it was a matter of convenience. But more than half of users said they would not otherwise be able to afford their purchases if it weren’t for BNPL programs. This was particularly true for lower-income respondents, with 72% of BNPL users earning less than $50,000 saying they used it to pay for something otherwise out of reach, up from 69% last year. Meanwhile, credit card ownership declined slightly, with 81% of respondents saying they owned at least one, down from 82% last year and a peak of 84% in 2021 but up from 77% in 2015. The share of consumers carrying a balance on their credit cards fell to 46%, down more than 10 percentage points from a decade prior. Middle-income earners — those making between more than $25,000 but less than $100,000 — were the most likely to carry a balance from one cycle to another. A higher share of low-income respondents carried balances, but a smaller share of those adults owned credit cards. Black consumers had the lowest credit card ownership rate at 69% as well as the highest prevalence of carrying a balance at 72%. Likewise, 72% of Hispanic respondents said they own a credit card and 60% carried a balance.