Buy now, pay later. But not everything always goes as it should. For Klarna, in fact, this year (between January and March) the Prevention are more than doubled because Customers are no longer able to repay their loan installments. How much are the losses? In the first quarter of 2025 they reached 99 million dollars. And so, the main european fintech in the sector of deferred payments – with 100 million active users worldwide – is today faced with a phenomenon that is no longer marginal: the increasingly greater difficulties in reimbursement on the part of consumers who opt for a payment system deferred payment also for goods of pressing necessity. A particularly serious problem in the Usa where Klarna has a significant user base.
Klarna, buy now and pay later: how it works
Klarna's “buy now, pay later” service – which allows consumers to pay for the purchase of a product in three interest-free installments – has facilitated the process over the years the increase in consumption while the company provided access to credit to its customers. For the Swedish company, earnings come from both shopkeepers' commissions who access the service for their own activities and from the “delays” resulting from late payments by consumers who are unable to pay their installments on time. The machine has now stopped working, however.
Klarna, why losses have doubled
According to emerging data, the Swedish fintech has recorded $99 million loss in the first quarter of this year. Also according to the information, 41% of Klarna users would not be able to pay the installments in the established time and this figure has increased by 34% compared to the same period in 2024. The growing American debt, however, continues to be discussed: the Federal Reserve has declared that household debt increased by 167 million dollars in the first quarter of 2025, and the Klarna crisis can be one of the many indicators of the general increase in US debt.
Klarna and the Stock Exchange: Why so many delays
The losses recorded in the first quarter, together with the uncertainties arising from the tariffs announced by the Trump administration, have led to a significant delay for the review in Bag of the company. Since 2023, the Swedish company intends to list on Wall Street but for the moment there do not seem to be any concrete signs. In recent years its valuation has gone from 46 billion (in 2021) to the current 15 billion dollars.
The attempt to use artificial intelligence
In a cost-cutting effort, Klarna's CEO announced in 2023 that he wanted to collaborate with ChatGpt to increase the use ofartificial intelligence in the company's operations. Thus, 40% of the workforce had been cut, and the company had gone from 5.000 employees to 3.000. In 2024, however, the CEO declared that digitalization and the hiring freeze had not had the desired effect. At the heart of the reasons would be the fact that artificial intelligence is not yet fully capable of managing the complications related to missed or late payments from customers.
Trump and the rules on access to credit in the USA
In terms of regulating “Buy Now, Pay Later” services, the Biden administration had moved towards greater control over the operations of these companies. The regulation – introduced by the former president – classified these companies as credit card issuers. The companies had to comply with more stringent controls, especially in terms of consumer protection and legal protections. The rule, enforced by the government agency Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (Cfpb), had not been welcomed by the companies themselves. Affirm, another company that operates bnpl services, had released a statement where it stated that regulating bnpl services as credit card issuers would only confuse the consumer who would have to provide billing information and other specifications that do not concern “buy now, pay later”.
The Trump administration appears to have made a step back along these lines, saying it will no longer classify bnpl service providers as credit card issuers. In a statement, the agency confirmed it will retain oversight resources exclusively for American taxpayers, while also considering completely repealing the Biden administration's rule for bnpl services.
