- The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will apply some credit card consumer protection rules to buy now, pay later lenders, the agency said on Wednesday, in a bid to impose more oversight on the fast-growing sector.
Most major BNPL providers already voluntarily comply with credit card-like protections, but the new rule should offer consistency across the sector, a CFPB official told reporters. According to a 2022 CFPB report, consumers often use BNPL as a substitute for conventional credit cards but consumer protection disclosures vary across major providers, and the loans can lead consumers to become over-indebted.