A quarter of American adults are using 'buy now, pay later' services for grocery shopping, according to a disturbing new poll that suggests a recession is looming.
The figure is up sharply from the 14 percent of adults aged 18 to 79 asked the same question in 2024 and the 21 percent who admitted using credit for groceries in 2023.
A survey of 2,000 adults by loan company Lending Tree also discovered that 41 percent of people who used buy now, pay later for groceries had made a payment deadline - seven percent more than the year before.
The terrifying data, first reported by CNBC, points to impending economic doom as millions of ordinary Americans buckle under the weight of soaring grocery prices, with inflationstill untamed.
Major supermarkets including Kroger, Shaw's, Ralphs and Whole Foods let customers pay using the most popular buy now, pay later service - Klarna.
Instacart, which lets users order groceries through an app which are then delivered to their home also offers Klarna as a payment option.
Klarna, which started in Sweden in 2005, lets users split the cost of a payment into four payments which must be completed within 30 days.
Doing so avoids interest charges and is the main reason many people use services like Klarna instead of credit cards.
A shopper peruses the aisles of a supermarket in Waco, Texas. A quarter of Americans are now using 'buy now, pay later' services like Klarna for groceries
Klarna, which was founded in Sweden in 2005, lets users split the cost of goods including groceries into four payments made over 30 days to avoid interest charges. It is offered by multiple leading American supermarkets
Egg prices have rocketed in recent months and now cost an average of $6.27-a-dozen. Many ordinary Americans are now struggling to feed their families
Users can also spread the cost of payments out over a longer period of time but must pay interest if they wish to do so.
The firm charges up to $7 per late payment.
Using buy now, pay later services for groceries may prove particularly tricky for Americans because of how frequently most people shop for food.
Lending Tree didn't ask how regularly customers who use buy now, pay later services for groceries were availing of them.
Anyone doing so every week or even every few weeks would soon find themselves burdened by considerable debt.
Lending Tree chief consumer finance analyst Matt Schulz said: 'A lot of people are struggling and looking for ways to extend their budget.
'Inflation is still a problem. Interest rates are still really high.
'There’s a lot of uncertainty around tariffs and other economic issues, and it’s all going to add up to a lot of people looking for ways to extend their budget however they can.'
Schulz refused to be drawn on whether the numbers were an indication of an impending recession, but said he expected the situation to get worse before it gets better.
President Trump, pictured at the White House on April 27, has been blamed for worsening economic chaos after enacting, then pausing tariffs
A Walmart store in Grovetown, Georgia in August 2023. America's most-respected financier Jamie Dimon says the chances of a recession in the coming months are around 50-50
A graph from Federal Reserve Economic Data showing how the price of eggs has rocketed to $6.22 per dozen in March 2025
Egg prices have been a particularly sore spot for American shoppers in recent months, to an average cost of $6.22 per dozen in March, according to official Federal Reserve Economic Data(FRED) figures.
A dozen eggs cost an average of around $1.40 in early 2020.
But prices began to soar when the pandemic hit and have never come back down.
Last month, DoorDash announced it was offering buy now, pay later options for takeout food - a treat that was once seen as an affordable luxury for many Americans.
Earlier in April, the United States' most influential financier, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon, said there was a 50-50 chance of a recession in the coming months.
He spoke after President Donald Trump enacted, then paused tariffs intended to bolster the production of goods domestically and make the United States less dependent on enemy nations like China.
Trump's decision hammered Americans' 401(k) retirement savings accounts, with key stock indexes including the Dow Jones losing over five percent of their value over the last six months.
The turmoil has prompted many Americans to reign in their spending, hammering businesses which depend on their custom to survive.
Main street businesses have also been hit by the chaos.
Many depended on materials imported from neighboring countries like Mexico or Canada which are among the nations set to be targeted with tariffs.
Trump vowed to make life more affordable for Americans while running his re-election campaign last year but has since admitted he is struggling to bring prices down.
