Italians increasingly pay with apps and in installments, +127% in three years

Pay in three interest-free installments, directly from the app, while placing a smartphone or an item of clothing in your cart. The Buy Now, Pay Lateril instant credit incorporated into purchases, it has transformed in just a few years from a niche novelty to an ordinary method for millions of Italians.

Payment in installments method

This is revealed by a focus of Censis-Confcooperative“The invisible debt”. Between 2022 and 2025, the research says, the volume of credit provided using this method grew by 127%. In the last 6 months of 2025 the growth rate was 23%. In the same period, small traditional loans under 1,500 euros decreased by 29%: this is a sign that “Buy Now Pay Later” is replacing them.

Debt and vulnerable businesses

“Among the companies considered vulnerable by Bank of Italythe share of debt held in 2026 stands at 35%. And the paradox is cruel: credit – adds Maurizio Gardini, president of Confcooperative – is contracted exactly for those who need it most. You get into debt to survive, not to grow. This is not an alarm for the future. It is a photograph of the present that risks becoming complicated with the restrictive monetary policy of the ECB“.

Mechanism and diffusion of buy now pay later

The mechanism is simple and therefore penetrating: no branch, no document, the credit it ends in seconds within the same purchasing platform. The result is that the Buy Now, Pay Later it reaches 60.3% of cases in the spending range of up to 1,000 euros, compared to 45.7% for traditional credit.

Decline in small loans

Consequently, between 2022 and 2025, loans for amounts less than 1,500 euros recorded a decrease of -29%.

What consumers buy

But what do you buy? 53.4% ​​of the financed products belong to the categories electronics and personal products. Other data shows that 19.0% of applicants do not have one credit history and faces credit for the first time.

Young and new applicants

Among applicants for amounts lower than 1500 euros it is equal to 8%. And above all, the Buy Now, Pay Later reaches a share of 18.1% for young people Generation Z and is chosen in 60.3% of cases in the range between 0 and 1000 euros, compared to 45.7% of traditional finalized credit (excluding cars).

Risks of debt accumulation

The risk, the report indicates, is thesilent accumulation and it becomes visible only when it stops being sustainable.

Economic situation of companies

On the business front, the Censis – Confcooperative report photographs a deteriorating situation. 38.6% of Italian companies with at least 50 employees judge the economic situation current worse than the previous quarter, with peaks of 43.7% in the South.