Black Friday BNPL Debt Parade: Buy Now, Regret Sooner

Photo by Volodymyr Proskurovskyi on Unsplash

KEY POINTS

•Adobe projects Americans will spend nearly $12 billion on Black Friday 2025 purchases, surpassing last year's sales by $1 billion.
•Between November 1 and December 31, shoppers are expected to spend over $20 billion online using Buy Now, Pay Later plans, an 11% increase from 2024.
•FICO announced in June it will include BNPL repayment data in credit scores this fall, highlighting risks of late payments.
•A November LendingTree report revealed 41% of BNPL users made late payments, including many high-income borrowers, young adults, men, and parents.

Black Friday 2025 won’t just break sales records; it’ll also shatter your bank account’s dignity. Adobe predicts Americans will splurge nearly $12 billion on Black Friday and over $20 billion on Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) plans between November 1 and December 31 — a neat $2 billion jump from last year’s BNPL binge of $18.2 billion. PayPal, Klarna, Affirm, and Afterpay are eagerly collecting "free" interest while Gen Z and millennials treat BNPL as a buy-now, worry-later lifestyle choice. Starting this fall, FICO will incorporate BNPL data into credit scores, meaning every late BNPL payment reported (likely 41%, per LendingTree) could herald your own financial horror story. Bonus irony: rich folks, men, young adults, and parents with toddlers top the late-payers list. So go ahead, swipe with bliss, knowing your credit score just signed up for a rollercoaster ride.