US BNPL Firms Turn to Europe as Rules Diverge
Buy now, pay later embeds short-term credit directly into online checkout, allowing consumers to split purchases into instalments. As PayPal, Amazon and other U.S. groups expand overseas, Europe’s tougher approach to affordability checks, disclosures and customer redress is becoming a key compliance benchmark. The regulatory split matters because providers must adapt underwriting and product design across markets while limiting consumer over-indebtedness.
The U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau withdrew its 2024 BNPL interpretive rule on May 12, 2025, while Britain’s Financial Conduct Authority began regulating third-party providers on July 15, 2026. The European Union’s revised Consumer Credit Directive is due to apply from November 20, 2026. Britain’s deferred-payment lending market grew from £60 million in 2017 to more than £13 billion in 2024, underscoring the scale of the compliance challenge.
All Coverage
1 original reportsThe Backstory
The history behind this eventOregon BNPL Proposal Shifts Compliance Burden to Payment Processors
Buy now, pay later products have evolved from a checkout feature into a form of consumer credit, drawing closer scrutiny of every company involved in delivering them. If payment processors, platforms and merchant-service providers are treated as BNPL service providers, they may inherit licensing, disclosure, dispute-handling and data-governance duties even when they do not set loan terms. That would force payments firms to redesign underwriting controls, merchant oversight and checkout workflows.
The Oregon Division of Financial Regulation proposed a bulletin in June 2026 requiring nonbank BNPL lenders and certain service providers to obtain licenses through the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System, with comments due July 17. Oregon requires a consumer-finance license for consumer loans of $50,000 or less lasting more than 60 days and caps the annual percentage rate at 36%. The Financial Technology Association opposed extending licensing to platforms, marketplaces, processors and merchant-service providers that merely facilitate another company’s BNPL product.
Subscribe to Mark Radar Weekly
Every Friday, the week's strongest signals in your inbox. Unsubscribe anytime.
If you search news on Google, you can set Mark Radar as a preferred source—our coverage will show up more often in your results. Set as preferred source on Google →