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Category: MA

  • Data: First-time home buyers faced greater headwinds in Q1

    Data: First-time home buyers faced greater headwinds in Q1

    By Elizabeth Renter, NerdWallet

    Buying a home is no walk in the park— and in today’s market, it’s especially challenging for first-time buyers.

    Although inflation-adjusted list prices decreased slightly in the first quarter of 2025, interest rates rose. For the vast majority of first-time home buyers who depend on a loan for their home purchase, this meant little relief in the way of affordability in the first months of the year.

    List prices dip slightly

    Across the nation, inflation-adjusted list prices in the first quarter fell slightly (-2%) compared with the last quarter of 2024. Looking at adjusted prices tells us that buyers’ money could go a bit further toward the sticker price on their home.

    But the number of homes changing hands remains historically low, according to data from the National Association of Realtors. Some of this may be seasonal — home sales are typically lackluster in the first quarter of the year. But high prices, high mortgage rates and an uncertain economic outlook are likely also playing a role.

    Across the most populous metros, the largest quarter-over-quarter drops in adjusted list prices occurred in: Detroit (-8%), San Francisco (-5%), Philadelphia (-5%) and Indianapolis (-5%).

    Home buyer tip: The current economic outlook is unclear — consumer sentiment is declining amid frequently changing economic policies. For example, 13% of Americans said they would delay a home purchase in the next 12 months due to tariffs, according to a recent NerdWallet survey. If high rates, high prices and economic uncertainty are giving you pause, it may be worth waiting. Use the extra time to save for a larger downpayment and tidy up your credit score. That way, when the time is right, you’ll be prepared to take the plunge.

    Monthly payments still out of reach

    Despite slightly lower prices across many markets, rising mortgage rates offset much of the benefit. The typical first-quarter list price was $413,700. With a 9% down payment (the average for first-time home buyers last year), buyers would be looking at a $3,240 monthly mortgage payment. This includes homeowners insurance, real estate taxes and private mortgage insurance (required for down payments less than 20%).

    Your ability to afford a home depends not only on the price, but your income and other commitments like outstanding debt.

    One rule of thumb suggests homeowners spend no more than 28% of their gross monthly income on housing. Applying that to the estimated typical home buyer payment for the first quarter, buyers would need to make at least $138,700 per year, and that’s without considering other debt obligations.

    As it stands, that $3,240 payment would be about 42% of the current average before-tax monthly income for households of first-time home buyer age.

    Home buyer tip: When you go into the market as a buyer, it’s important to look at all of the numbers that would go into your monthly housing payment, as they can considerably impact your budget. The biggest: your downpayment. But shopping around for homeowners insurance and the lowest mortgage rate available can also make a difference. Don’t focus solely on the home sale price — these other costs add up quickly.

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    Listings pause their rebound from a deep deficit

    The number of available homes for sale typically recedes slightly in the first quarter of the year, and this year the data held to trend, with average listings falling 7% across the nation compared with the previous quarter. Still, the overall trend is upward — Q1 listings increased by 27% from the same period last year.

    Across the country’s most populous metro areas, listings fell most dramatically quarter over quarter in Buffalo, New York and Grand Rapids, Michigan, where there were 30% fewer listings in the first quarter. However, the biggest improvements over the course of the past year were seen in Denver (where listings were up 62%, year over year), Las Vegas (+59%) and San Diego (+58%).

    Home buyer tip: More listings often mean more competition. However, when interest rates are high and the economic outlook unclear, more homes might not be enough to entice more buyers. In some markets, this lack of demand could lead to conditions likely to benefit the home buyer — greater negotiating power, for example. A local real estate agent can help you determine the current market conditions where you’re shopping.

    Analysis methodology and additional graphics available in the original article, published at NerdWallet.

    More From NerdWallet

    Elizabeth Renter writes for NerdWallet. Email: [email protected]. Twitter: @elizabethrenter.

    The article Data: First-Time Home Buyers Faced Greater Headwinds in Q1 originally appeared on NerdWallet.

  • ‘Big, beautiful’ price tag: Congressional Budget Office pegs Trump tax bill at $2.4T

    ‘Big, beautiful’ price tag: Congressional Budget Office pegs Trump tax bill at $2.4T

    WASHINGTON — The House-passed budget reconciliation bill would increase deficits by $2.4 trillion over a decade and ultimately result in nearly 11 million individuals losing access to health insurance, the Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday.

    The new numbers are largely in line with preliminary estimates but nonetheless could complicate the path forward for President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” budget package, which is undergoing a thorough Senate review this week. Democrats were quick to jump on the CBO score.

    “Even after the biggest cuts to health care and food assistance in U.S. history, the Republican bill for billionaires would still add a historic amount to our debt — all to give the ultra-rich more tax breaks,” House Budget ranking member Brendan F. Boyle, D-Pa., said in a statement.

    “In the words of Elon Musk, this bill is a ‘disgusting abomination,’” he continued.

    House Speaker Mike Johnson said he called Musk late Tuesday to discuss the criticism but had not heard back. “I hope he comes around,” Johnson told reporters.

    But Musk, whose business interests could be impacted by green energy rollbacks in the bill, piled on, imploring voters to call their representatives and senators: “Bankrupting America is NOT ok!” he wrote on social media, “KILL the BILL”

    Along with $3.75 trillion to extend the 2017 tax breaks and add the new ones Trump campaigned on, including no taxes on tips, it found that the package would reduce federal spending outlays by nearly $1.3 trillion, largely through proposed reductions to Medicaid and rollbacks of green energy initiatives.

    Some 7.8 million people would no longer have health insurance with changes to Medicaid, including 5.2 million from the proposed new work requirements on those able-bodied adults up to age 65, with some exceptions, according to the analysis.

    The data doesn’t include the so-called dynamic effects of the bill on the economy, which could lower the overall price tag. The Joint Committee on Taxation, which analyzes tax provisions, previously said an earlier version of the House bill would cost about $100 billion less than advertised because of positive growth effects. The CBO said an updated economic analysis of the full package will be forthcoming.

    Republicans have repeatedly bashed the CBO methodology, particularly for allegedly low-balling baseline economic forecasts at about 1.8% annual growth.

    White House Budget Director Russ Vought said when you adjust for “current policy,” which means not counting some $4.5 trillion in existing tax breaks that are simply being extended for the next decade, the overall package actually doesn’t pile onto the deficit. He argued that the spending cuts alone, in fact, help reduce deficits by $1.4 trillion over the decade.

    “Russ is right,” Johnson, the House speaker, posted on social media. “Our One Big Beautiful Bill will REDUCE the deficit WHILE delivering on the mandate given to us by the American people. Let’s get it done!”

    Trump called that estimate “ridiculous and unpatriotic” in a post on his social media network, Truth Social.

    A separate analysis by the CBO predicted that Trump’s s sweeping tariff plan would cut deficits by $2.8 trillion over a 10-year period while shrinking the economy, raising the inflation rate and reducing the purchasing power of households overall.

    Baked into the CBO’s tariff analysis is a prediction that households would ultimately buy less from the countries hit with added tariffs.

    The budget office estimates that the tariffs would increase the average annual rate of inflation by 0.4 percentage points in 2025 and 2026.

  • Ticker: McDonald’s is bringing back a fan favorite on July 10; Wall Street rises again

    Ticker: McDonald’s is bringing back a fan favorite on July 10; Wall Street rises again

    If McDonald’s ever doubted it needed to bring back the Snack Wrap, consider this: Nine years after the fast-food powerhouse discontinued the item in the U.S., customers have continued to order it at drive-thrus.

    Those customers won’t have to leave empty-handed for long. On Tuesday, McDonald’s announced that a new version of the Snack Wrap will go on sale July 10.

    McDonald’s invented the Snack Wrap — a tortilla full of chicken, lettuce, shredded cheese and sauce — almost two decades ago to make it easier to eat its chicken on the go. But it was too complicated for its kitchens to prepare, so the burger giant abandoned the Snack Wrap in the U.S. in 2016.

    For the U.S. comeback, McDonald’s is offering fewer kinds of Snack Wraps to ensure faster service. It used to have both grilled and fried chicken options, but it’s only offering fried chicken in the U.S. for now. And the relaunched Snack Wraps will only come in two flavors: Ranch or Spicy. The company used to offer additional sauces like honey mustard and sweet chili.

    Wall Street rises again

    U.S. stocks pulled closer to their record on Tuesday as the wait continued for more updates on President Donald Trump’s tariffs and how much they’re affecting the economy.

    The S&P 500 rose 0.6%, coming off a modest gain that added to its stellar May. It’s back within 2.8% of its all-time high set earlier this year after falling roughly 20% below two months ago.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 214 points, or 0.5%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.8%.

    Dollar General jumped 15.8% for one of the market’s bigger gains after reporting stronger profit and revenue for the start of the year than analysts expected. The discount retailer also raised its forecasts for profit and revenue over the full year, though it cautioned that “uncertainty exists for the remainder of the year” because of tariffs and how they might affect its customers.

    Many other companies have cut or withdrawn their financial forecasts for the upcoming year because of the uncertainty caused by Trump’s on-again-off-again rollout of tariffs. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said on Tuesday that it’s forecasting 1.6% growth for the U.S. economy this year, down from 2.8% last year.

  • Ticker: EU preparing tariff ‘countermeasures’; Home cooking on the rise

    Ticker: EU preparing tariff ‘countermeasures’; Home cooking on the rise

    The European Union on Monday said it is preparing “countermeasures” against the United States after the Trump administration’s surprise tariffs on steel rattled global markets and complicated the ongoing, wider tariff negotiations between Brussels and Washington.

    Last week, ahead of Friday’s surprise announcement, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed to “accelerate talks” on a deal.

    “In the event that our negotiations do not lead to a balanced outcome, the EU is prepared to impose countermeasures, including in response to this latest tariff increase,” European Commission spokesperson Olof Gill told a press conference in Brussels.

    He said the EU is finalizing an expanded list of countermeasures that would automatically take effect on July 14 or earlier. That’s the date when a 90-day pause, intended to ease negotiations, ends in tariffs announced by the two economic powerhouses on each other.

    Earnings show home cooking on the rise

    The Campbell’s Co. said it saw stronger sales of broth and condensed soup in its latest quarter as more Americans cooked their meals at home.

    “Consumers continue to cook at home and focus their spending on products that help them stretch their food budgets, and they’re increasingly intentional about their discretionary snack purchases,” Campbell’s President and CEO Mick Beekhuizen said during a conference call with investors.

    Beekhuizen said Campbell’s saw the highest level of meals cooked at home since early 2020 in its fiscal third quarter, which ended April 27. Campbell’s noted sales of its broths rose 15% during the quarter while sales of its Rao’s pasta sauces were up 2%.

    But Campbell’s said sales of its snacks, including Goldfish crackers and Cape Cod potato chips, fell 4% during the quarter.

  • Brennan: Women bear cost of bad healthcare policy

    Brennan: Women bear cost of bad healthcare policy

    A woman’s death from a preventable heart attack isn’t just a misunderstanding of cardiovascular biology — it’s a failure of policy.

    And when her doctor misdiagnoses her autoimmune flare as stress, or when a hot flash relief drug never reaches pharmacy shelves because it’s deemed financially unviable — these aren’t mere unfortunate accidents. They’re the direct result of systemic underinvestment, outdated assumptions, and misaligned incentives in U.S. healthcare policy.

    For too long, women’s health has been an afterthought — not just in treatment, but in the lab, in budgets, and in the laws that shape our drug development system. And instead of correcting these historical imbalances, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) threatens to deepen them.

    The historic neglect of women’s health has touched nearly every corner of the medical industry. Cancer rates in women under 50 are over 80% higher than in men under 50. Women are more likely to die from heart attacks. Four out of five people living with autoimmune diseases are women. Nearly two-thirds of Alzheimer’s patients are women. Thyroid disease affects women ten times more often than men.

    According to a McKinsey analysis, women spend 25% more time than men in poor health — and investments addressing the women’s health gap could bolster the global economy by $1 trillion annually by 2040.

    Yet between 2013 and 2023, only 10% of NIH funding went toward women’s health. That’s not an oversight. That’s a signal — a signal of who our system is designed to serve, and who it’s willing to overlook.

    The Inflation Reduction Act inadvertently worsens this problem. The law was designed to reduce costs for patients by allowing Medicare to negotiate lower prices on certain high-cost prescription drugs. But in doing so, it created an uneven playing field — one that threatens the development of many medicines women depend on.

    The law gives a longer period of protection from government price-setting to large molecule drugs, called biologics, than it does to small molecule drugs. Biologics get 13 years. Small molecules get only nine.

    Four years may not seem like much. But in the economics of drug development, it’s the difference between go and no-go. When developers face a shorter runway to recoup their investment, many choose not to develop the drug at all.

    And small molecule treatments are essential for women’s health.

    Consider azathioprine, a small molecule drug that helps women with lupus control painful and dangerous flare-ups. Or methimazole, which has brought relief and stability to women living with Graves’ disease, a thyroid disorder that can cause everything from tremors to heart complications. Leflunomide has made life manageable for countless women with rheumatoid arthritis, helping them work, care for their families, and move through the world without debilitating pain. And Veozah — a recently approved non-hormonal treatment for hot flashes — has offered long-overdue relief to women enduring a symptom that, while often dismissed as trivial, can wreck sleep, sap confidence, and disrupt daily life.

    Had the IRA’s rules been in place when these drugs were in development, some of them might never have reached patients. Major pharmaceutical companies are already pulling back from small molecule drug research, particularly in areas like cancer and mental health.

    Genentech is reportedly reconsidering an ovarian cancer drug — not because it isn’t promising, but because it makes more financial sense to pursue a prostate cancer application first. The reason? The law starts the countdown on price controls from the first FDA approval. So it makes financial sense for Genentech to focus on the largest total addressable market. That means first seeking approval as a treatment for prostate cancer — which affects 3.5 million American men — and then only later pursuing approval as a treatment for ovarian cancer, which afflicts about 250,000 American women.

    This is what inequity looks like when it’s encoded in policy: a financial incentive to treat men first, and women later — if at all.

    This doesn’t have to be the end of the story. President Trump just signed an executive order pledging to undo this so-called “pill penalty” and ensure all treatments receive funding based on their medical potential, not their molecular weight. The EPIC Act, a bipartisan proposal in Congress, would likewise fix this distortion by simply giving small molecule drugs the same 13-year protection that biologics receive. That one change would realign incentives, restore investor confidence, and give women-focused treatments a fighting chance to make it to market.

    Women have been underdiagnosed, undertreated, and underserved for decades. There is finally growing awareness of the gap.

    But awareness alone isn’t enough. We need action — including more funding for research into how biological sex plays a role in the pathology of diseases, as well as thoughtful policy that encourages medical developments for women’s health. As an investor committed to advancing healthcare innovation, I’d hate to see more promising treatments — especially those affecting women — struggle to secure funding as an inadvertent result of the Inflation Reduction Act.

    Christine Brennan, Ph.D. is managing director at Vertex Ventures HC and secretary of the board for Incubate, a Washington-based coalition of life-science venture capitalists.

     

  • Lopez: Needless lawsuits threaten energy policy

    Lopez: Needless lawsuits threaten energy policy

    At the end of last year, 11 Republican state attorneys general filed a lawsuit that will have significant, presumably unintended, and somewhat strange consequences on the energy market. Naturally, the energy industry and the price Americans pay for that energy are balanced.

    Spearheaded by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the lawsuit targets the “Big Three” financial asset managers: BlackRock, State Street and Vanguard. The principal accusation is that the managers manipulated the energy markets by limiting investment in coal.

    The complaint alleges that these financial firms have suppressed traditional energy sources by acquiring stockholdings and using their leverage to pressure coal companies to shut down or accommodate “green energy” goals.

    The supporting evidence is weak. As was reported at the time, the Big Three firms participated in environmental efforts aimed at working with businesses across various industries, curtailing greenhouse gas emissions, and creating long-term shareholder value.

    These three firms have since left many of the broad coalition initiatives they were previously committed to; State Street and BlackRock withdrew membership with Climate Action 100+, and Vanguard and BlackRock withdrew from the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative. These decisions gained widespread attention, with the companies citing various reasons and all affirming their commitment to providing the best investment returns for their clients.

    However, during their time as participants, the lawsuit claims, the defendants plotted to lower coal prices.  This appears to be the fact on which the lawsuit hinges. That claim is wrong, to be charitable.

    In reality, coal’s decline has resulted from economic and market trends. More affordable and efficient energy options, like natural gas and renewables, have slowly but steadily taken the lead, a trend that has occurred over many years.

    The most economically beneficial and productive energy agenda would be allowing all energy sources to compete freely and openly so that consumers and businesses can access reliable, affordable and secure energy. An artificially disrupted energy market, like this lawsuit would lead to, can create imbalances between supply, demand and investments, which can be costly to consumers.

    Any effort that artificially redirects investment — whether by encouraging or discouraging specific businesses — distorts that balance and weakens our energy grid’s long-term resilience, which is already deeply in need of investment.

    To update America’s declining energy infrastructure and keep pace with surging energy demand, we need broad-based investment in fossil fuels or renewables, and in nuclear power and next-generation technologies.

    Building a resilient and prosperous energy future requires doubling down on principles that encourage diversity in energy sources and technological innovation that improves efficiency and environmental stewardship.

    Mario Lopez is the president of the Hispanic Leadership Fund/InsideSources

  • Ticker: Wall Street climbs on EU tariff delay; Consumer confidence rebounds

    Ticker: Wall Street climbs on EU tariff delay; Consumer confidence rebounds

    Wall Street’s roller-coaster ride created by President Donald Trump’s trade policies whipped back upward on Tuesday, this time because of a delay for his tariffs on the European Union.

    The S&P 500 leaped 2% in its first trading since Trump said Sunday that the United States will delay a 50% tariff on goods coming from the European Union until July 9 from June 1. The European Union’s chief trade negotiator later said on Monday that he had “good calls” with Trump officials and the EU was “fully committed” to reaching a trade deal by July 9.

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 740 points, or 1.8%, and the Nasdaq composite rallied 2.5%. They more than recovered their losses from Friday, when Wall Street’s roller coaster dropped after Trump announced the tariffs on France, Germany and the other 25 countries represented by the European Union.

    Consumer confidence rebounds

    Americans’ views of the economy improved in May after five straight months of declines sent consumer confidence to its lowest level since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, largely driven by anxiety over the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

    The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index rose 12.3 points in May to 98, up from April’s 85.7, its lowest reading since May 2020.

    A measure of Americans’ short-term expectations for their income, business conditions and the job market jumped 17.4 points to 72.8, but remained below 80, which can signal a recession ahead.

    The Conference Board said the rebound in confidence this month was broad-based across all ages and income groups.

    Consumers’ assessments of the present economic situation also improved, with the exception of their view on job availability, which weakened for the fifth straight month.

  • Letters to the editor

    Letters to the editor

    Joe Biden’s age

    It wasn’t Biden’s age that was the problem for me – I’ m older than Biden and Trump with more of my marbles than either and I would never presume to run to be POTUS.  I’m 86 and the pace of the campaign would kill me plus begging for money from every source one could think of would make me beholden to too many undesirable people like Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Banks, etc. I don’t need any more plaudits from the crowd; I’ve spent a major portion of 47 years following Bobby Kennedy’s favorite quote, “Some people see things as they are and ask why – others see things as they might be and ask why not.”

    I’ve spent the major portion of those years in public transportation research, planning, programming, and administration – I didn’t earn a big salary, but nearing the end of my day, I’m satisfied with many things that were accomplished.

    The information about Biden’s cancer was hidden from the public by a complicit press for quite some time and now these knights errant wonder why no one believes them. Social media are no better; no one cites source material, they just express their opinions.

    Personally, I’m sorry that Joe had to endure this to maintain a posture of good health, but the wheels came of the wagon in the debate with Trump.

    Arnold Pinsley

    Framingham

    Nuclear power

    Interestingly, President Trump has announced his intention to quadruple the amount of electricity generated with nuclear power by 2050 (“Trump signs executive orders to boost nuclear power, speed up approvals,” May 23). While that may be unachievable, it certainly implies a declining share of fossil fuels in the nation’s energy mix.

    Electricity demand is projected to increase by 50% in the next 25 years. Given that nuclear power and renewable sources each currently provide about 20% of the US demand, a quadrupling of nuclear and a slightly more than tripling of renewables would together satisfy all of the 2050 demand, leaving no need for generation from fossil fuels.

    The American Petroleum Institute, the primary lobbying organization for oil and gas, knows nuclear power threatens fossil fuels, and they actively work to suppress it. As nuclear development gains momentum, expect more resistance from the natural gas industry, which has staked its future on baseload power generation.

    From a decarbonization standpoint, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. If we can get a handle on the radioactive waste problem and produce affordable and reliable nuclear power, then I’m fine with Trump betraying his backers in the fossil fuel industry.

    Frederick Hewett

    Cambridge

    Social Security

    I knew it was too good to be true and guess what, it is. The Big Beautiful Bill includes no tax on tips and no tax on overtime but the “no tax on Social Security” just didn’t happen. Seniors get an extra standard deduction of $4,000 per individual age 65 and over. It’s not what the president mentioned on his campaign but it is what it is.

    Tony Meschini

    Scituate

     

     

  • Airbnb to crack down on ‘unauthorized and disruptive’ parties on summer bookings

    Airbnb to crack down on ‘unauthorized and disruptive’ parties on summer bookings

    Parties at vacation rentals sometimes raise the ire of neighbors when holiday revelry gets out of hand.

    Airbnb announced this week it is rolling out “anti-party technology” across the U.S. this summer. The system will be in effect for two upcoming holiday weekends: Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.

    The goal of the system, which is being deployed for the fourth straight year, is to uphold Airbnb’s Community Disturbance Policy, which bans “disruptive parties, events, noise, or other disruptive behaviors and actions,” by looking at a range of factors to identify and prevent attempts to book one-to-two-night stays in entire home listings that could be higher risk for disruptive parties.

    Parameters looked at include the type of listing being booked, the duration of the stay, the distance to the listing from the guest’s primary location and if the booking is last minute. If an attempted booking is flagged, the user is either blocked or redirected to alternative listing options.

    According to the announcement, this anti-party technology led to 51,000 people being blocked or redirected from listings over the same two holiday weekends last year. This includes approximately 900 people in Atlanta and 2,400 across Georgia, according to Airbnb.

    Despite these measures, Airbnb notes that disruptive parties are a relatively rare occurrence but are nonetheless “committed to working to reduce the risk and helping hosts promote positive experiences in their homes and local neighborhoods.”

    Since introducing the party ban in 2020, the company has seen a 50% decline in the rates of parties reported at U.S. bookings.

    In addition to the screening, Airbnb offers other resources, including tips for hosts, free noise sensors for hosts and support and safety lines for hosts, guests and neighbors.

    Vrbo, a similar short-term rental business, has a “strict no-party house policy,” but has not announced a plan similar to Airbnb’s for the holiday weekends. Vrbo’s website, however, includes expectations for both guests and hosts, noting that if someone causes or fails to handle a disturbance, respectively, they will not be allowed to be involved in the rental process in the future. Vrbo also offers Stay Neighborly, which allows neighbors of rental sites to report any nuisance concerns.

  • Why are more shoppers struggling to repay ‘buy now, pay later’ loans?

    Why are more shoppers struggling to repay ‘buy now, pay later’ loans?

    By CORA LEWIS

    NEW YORK (AP) — More Klarna customers are having trouble repaying their “buy now, pay later” loans, the short-term lender said this week. The disclosure corresponded with reports by lending platforms Bankrate and LendingTree, which cited an increasing share of all “buy now, pay later” users saying they had fallen behind on payments.

    The late or missed installments are a sign of faltering financial health among a segment of the US population, some analysts say, as the nation’s total consumer debt rises to a record $18.2 trillion and the Trump administration moves to collect on federal student loans.

    Shoppers who opt to finance purchases through BNPL services tend to be younger than the average consumer, and a study from the Federal Reserve last year said Black and Hispanic women were especially likely to use the plans, which customers of all income levels are increasingly adopting.

    “While BNPL provides credit to financially vulnerable consumers, these same consumers may be overextending themselves,” the authors of the Federal Reserve study wrote. “This concern is consistent with previous research that has shown consumers spend more when BNPL is offered when checking out and that BNPL use leads to an increase in overdraft fees and credit card interest payments and fees.”

    As Klarna grows its user base and revenue, the Swedish company said its first-quarter consumer credit losses rose 17% compared to the January-March period of last year, to $136 million.

    A company spokesperson said in a statement that the increase largely reflected the higher number of loans Klarna made year over year. The percentage of its loans at a global level that went unpaid in the first quarter grew from 0.51% in 2024 to 0.54% this year, and the company sees “no sign of a weakened U.S. consumer,” he said.

    More consumers are using ‘buy now, pay later’ plans

    Buy now, pay later plans generally let consumers split payments for purchases into four or fewer installments, often with a down payment at checkout. The loans are typically marketed as zero-interest, and most require no credit check or a soft credit check.

    BNPL providers promote the plans as a safer alternative to traditional credit cards when interest rates are high. The popularity of the deferred payment plans, and the expanding ways customers can use them, have also sparked public attention.

    When Klarna announced a partnership with DoorDash in March, the news led to online comments about Americans taking out loans to buy takeout food. Similar skepticism emerged when Billboard revealed that more than half of Coachella attendees used installment plans to finance their tickets to the music festival.

    An April report from LendingTree said about four in ten users of buy now, pay later plans said they had made late payments in the past year, up from one in three last year. According to a May report from Bankrate, about one in four users of the loans chose them because they were easier to get than traditional credit cards.

    The six largest BNPL providers — Affirm, Afterpay, Klarna, PayPal, Sezzle, and Zip — originated about 277.3 million loans for $33.8 billion in merchandise in 2022, or an amount equal to about 1% of credit card spending that year, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

    An industry that is coming under less regulatory scrutiny

    The federal agency said this month it did not intend to enforce a Biden-era regulation that was designed to put more boundaries around the fintech lenders.

    The rule treated buy now, pay later loans like traditional credit cards under the Truth In Lending Act, requiring disclosures, refund processing, a formal dispute process and other protections.

    The regulation, which took effect last year, also prevented borrowers from being forced into automatic payments or charged with multiple fees for the same missed payment.

    The Trump administration said its non-enforcement decision came “in the interest of focusing resources on supporting hard-working American taxpayers” and that it would “instead keep its enforcement and supervision resources focused on pressing threats to consumers, particularly servicemen and veterans.”

    Consumer advocates maintain that without federal oversight, customers seeking refunds or in search of clear information about BNPL fee structures and interest rates will have less legal recourse.

    There are risks to taking out installment loans

    Industry watchers point to consumers taking out loans they can’t afford to pay back as a top risk of BNPL use. Without credit bureaus keeping track of the new form of credit, there are fewer safeguards and less oversight.

    Justine Farrell, chair of the marketing department at the University of San Diego’s Knauss School of Business, said that when consumers aren’t able to make loan payments on time, it worsens the economic stress they’re already experiencing.

    “Consumers’ financial positions feel more spread thin than they have in a long time,” said Farrell, who studies consumer behavior and BNPL services. “The cost of food is continuing to go up, on top of rent and other goods … so consumers are taking advantage of the ability to pay for items later.”

    The Consumer Federation of America and other watchdog organizations have expressed concern about the rollback of BNPL regulation as the use of the loans continues to rise.

    “By taking a head-in-the-sand approach to the new universe of fintech loans, the new CFPB is once again favoring Big Tech at the expense of everyday people,” said Adam Rust, director of financial services at the Consumer Federation of America.

    The Associated Press receives support from Charles Schwab Foundation for educational and explanatory reporting to improve financial literacy. The independent foundation is separate from Charles Schwab and Co. Inc. The AP is solely responsible for its journalism.