Payments Briefing: Why can’t Americans pay their bills on time?
- This week, we explore why US adults are struggling to pay their utility bills, personal loans, auto loans, and mortgages on time.
- We also look at how to stand out as a BNPL provider with Affirm’s VP of marketing and communications, Erika White.

Americans are struggling to pay their bills on time. Over half (51%) of US adults paid at least one bill late during the last twelve months, according to a recent survey by payments firm PayNearMe.
Young Americans are significantly more likely to pay late versus their older counterparts. Nearly 30% of respondents aged 18-29 missed more than four bill payments over the past year, while a quarter of those aged 30-44 did the same.
In comparison, only 19% of respondents aged 45-60 missed more than four payments during the same period, and only 8% of those aged 60 and above did the same.
Late bill payments by type
To better understand consumer attitudes around late bill payments, we need to determine not only how often they’re missing payments, but also which types of payments they’re missing most and why.
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