Pay in three interest-free installments directly from the app while you add a smartphone or item of clothing to your cart. The "buy now, pay later" concept instant credit incorporated into purchases, has transformed in just a few years from a niche novelty to a standard method for millions of Italians. Between 2022 and 2025, the volume of credit granted through this mechanism grew by 127 %In the last year alone, the growth rate was 23%. Over the same period, small traditional loans under €1.500 decreased by 29%: 'buy now, pay later' is replacing them. This is what emerges from "The Invisible Debt," the latest Censis-Confcooperative study.
The mechanism is simple and therefore penetrating: no branch, no documents, the credit is concluded in seconds within the same purchasing platform. The result is that The “buy now, pay later” rate reaches 60,3% of cases in the spending bracket up to 1.000 euros, compared to 45,7% for traditional credit.
Buy now, pay later: the risk is silent accumulation
The risk, he warns Confcooperative, is the 'silent accumulationThe simultaneous use of multiple contracts on different platforms generates small-value bonds that escape traditional indicators of financial vulnerabilityInvisible debt accumulates installment after installment, often on rapidly depreciating goods such as electronics, clothing, and personal products, and becomes visible only when it becomes unsustainable.
Buy now, pay later: A growing phenomenon among Gen Z.
The phenomenon is acute among young people: in Generation Z Bnpl reaches the 18,1 % of the credit instruments used. Even more significant: 19% of applicants have no credit history whatsoeverThese are people who are approaching credit for the first time through an installment plan integrated into one shopping online, without ever having had an explicit relationship with a bank. The risk is silent accumulation.
In terms of companiesFurthermore, the report depicts a deteriorating situation. 38,6% of Italian companies with at least 50 employees judge the current economic situation to be worse than the previous quarter, with peaks of 43,7% in Southern Italy.
“Among the companies considered vulnerable by the Bank of Italy, the share of debt held in 2026 stands at 35%. And the paradox is cruel: credit – he says Maurice Gardini, president of Confcooperative – it is contracted exactly for those who need it most. We get into debt to survive, not to grow.This isn't a warning for the future. It's a snapshot of the present, which risks becoming more complicated by the ECB's restrictive monetary policy.
