Fintech lenders held a 42% share of originations, up from roughly one-third a year earlier, in US unsecured personal loans in Q3 2025, per TransUnion. Outstanding personal loan balances then reached a record $281 billion, up 9.6% year over year in Q2 2026. The latest fintech lending statistics show that growth is reaching well past the personal loan aisle, into checkout credit and small business finance.

The Federal Reserve found that BNPL use edged up 1 percentage point to 16% of all adults. Among small business applicants, the share seeking financing at online fintech lenders increased over the last five years, from 17% in the 2020 survey to 29% in the 2025 survey. The figures below track originations, balances, delinquency, lender-level volume, buy now, pay later use, and small business credit through the latest filings and surveys.

Key Takeaways

US personal loan originations rose 19.5% YoY, driven by subprime (+29%) and super prime (+9%) borrowers, per TransUnion’s Q2 2026 report.
Upstart says more than 90% of loans are fully automated, and Happen reports a record-high >90% automation rate for issued loans.
Among small businesses that borrowed from online lenders, 60% said borrowing costs at these lenders were higher than expected, compared with 37% and 32% of borrowers at small and large banks.
Late payment tracks income: BNPL users with family income less than $25,000 paid late at about 3.6 times the rate of users earning $100,000 or more, per the Federal Reserve’s income table below.
Klarna’s provisions for credit losses were 0.52% of GMV versus 0.56% of GMV in Q2 2025.
Cash App consumer lending origination volume grew 59% year over year to $18.9 billion, driven by Cash App Borrow.

Editor’s Choice

SoFi originations: record origination volume of $14.8 billion increased 69% year-over-year in Q2 2026.
Upstart loan count: 558,014 loans originated, up 50% in Q2 2026.
Affirm GMV: for the year ended June 30, 2026, GMV was $50.2 billion.
Klarna reach: 120 million active consumers (+8% YoY) in Q2 2026.
Nubank credit book: total credit portfolio expanded 37% YoY and 5% QoQ to $39.4 billion.
US personal loan borrowers: 26.9 million consumers with unsecured personal loans in Q2 2026.

TransUnion’s Q4 2025 report found subprime drove growth with a 32.5% YoY increase in originations in Q3 2025.
In the same quarter, near prime and super prime segments each rose 21.5%.
Subprime borrowers and accounts grew 18.4% and 20.5% YoY, respectively, even as the size of the average new subprime loan fell 6.8% by Q2 2026.
Borrower and account counts set records, up 8.3% and 10.7%, respectively.
TransUnion’s analysts wrote that “FinTechs remain the most active issuers” even at elevated growth levels.

US unsecured personal loan metric	Q2 2026	Q2 2025
Number of unsecured personal loans	33.3 million	30.1 million
Consumers with unsecured personal loans	26.9 million	24.8 million
Average debt per borrower	$11,694	$11,676
Average account balance	$8,437	$8,524

Source: TransUnion Q2 2026 Credit Industry Insights Report

What percentage of personal loans come from fintech lenders?

Fintech lenders originated a 42% share of originations of US unsecured personal loans in Q3 2025, according to TransUnion. That share was up from roughly one-third a year earlier. The remaining 58% of originations came from other lender types, so fintechs do not yet hold a majority on their own.

About This Data

Sources: 18 captured primary sources, all Tier 1: TransUnion newsroom reports, Federal Reserve surveys, the UK FCA, and company filings or investor releases.
Window: data periods from Q3 2025 through Q2 2026, plus fiscal-year figures where a lender reports that way.
Selection: primary or official data only; market-research estimates are excluded, and figures are updated as those sources publish new editions.

US Personal Loan Balances by Year

TransUnion’s Q1 2026 report showed outstanding personal loan balances hit a record $277 billion in Q1 2026.
A quarter earlier, total unsecured personal loan balances climbed to a record $276 billion in Q4 2025, held across 26.4 million consumers carrying a balance.
Across all consumer credit, total outstanding balances reached $18.6 trillion, up 2.8% in Q2 2026.
The number of US consumers with any credit balance reached 261.7 million, up 2.4%.
The wider personal loan industry statistics show how these fintech-led balances compare with bank and credit union lending.

Balances then jumped by $35 billion in the twelve months to Q2 2026, after barely moving the year before. That jump is where the fintech origination surge shows up on the balance sheet.

Recent Developments

July 15, 2026: The UK Financial Conduct Authority started regulating Deferred Payment Credit (DPC), often known as Buy Now Pay Later, on 15 July 2026.
July 27, 2026: Happen grew originations 29% year-over-year to $3.1 billion and rebranded to Happen Bank from LendingClub.
July 2026: SoFi reported member growth of 35% to a record 15.8 million members for Q2 2026.
August 2026: Upstart reported originations of $4.2 billion, up 50% year-over-year for Q2 2026.
August 2026: Nu added approximately 4 million customers in Q2’26, reaching a total of 139 million customers globally.
August 2026: Klarna posted GMV of $36.6 billion, up 18% YoY, with U.S. GMV up 27% in Q2 2026.

US Personal Loan Originations by Year

In Q4 2025, personal loan originations hit a record 7.6 million, up 21.7% YoY, according to TransUnion.
One quarter earlier, unsecured personal loan originations reached a record 7.2 million in Q3 2025, the second consecutive quarter of new highs.
The Q4 2025 surge was driven disproportionately by subprime borrowers managing cash-flow stress and super prime borrowers consolidating balances or financing larger purchases.
Personal loans continue to serve as a key tool for debt consolidation and refinancing, with growth at both ends of the credit spectrum.
TransUnion counts originations one quarter in arrears to account for reporting lag, so a Q2 report carries Q1 volume.

Personal Loan Delinquency Rates

In Q1 2026, 60+ DPD balance delinquency decreased 2 bps to 2.04% versus the prior year, according to TransUnion.
The same report showed consumer delinquency rising to 3.98%.
At the end of 2025, despite record totals, average balances per consumer and per account remained flat YoY, according to TransUnion.
Lenders are extending credit to more consumers, particularly in subprime, while maintaining underwriting discipline.
On credit cards, balance-level delinquency rates (1.98% in Q2 2026) are relatively flat.
Rising borrower-level delinquency alongside flat balance-level delinquency is consistent with more small subprime loans entering the book, a pattern also visible in wider consumer debt statistics.

Fintech Lender Origination Volume, Q2 2026

Block’s Cash App Commerce Enablement volume grew 17% year over year to $56.5 billion, driven by Cash App Card and BNPL.
SoFi’s personal loan total was inclusive of $3.1 billion originated on behalf of third parties through our Loan Platform Business, in the company’s words.
Pagaya posted record network volume of $3.5 billion, which grew by 33% year-over-year, driven by growth in our Auto vertical, per the company.
That result beat Pagaya’s outlook of $2.875 billion to $3.075 billion.
Enova’s originations rose 27% to total company originations of $2.3 billion in the quarter.

Each lender measures volume its own way, so the table names the metric beside every lender. Pagaya reports network volume, while SoFi’s figure includes loans originated for third parties.

By the numbers: SoFi, Upstart and Happen together originated $18.0 billion in personal loans in Q2 2026, from SoFi’s $10.7 billion, Upstart’s $4.2 billion and Happen’s $3.1 billion. That combined total sits just below the $18.9 billion Cash App originated through consumer lending alone.

SoFi Loan Originations by Product

SoFi attributed its record volume to continued strong member demand for personal loans, student loans, and home loans as well as strong demand from capital markets partners.
Record personal loan originations of $10.7 billion in the second quarter of 2026 were up 54% year-over-year.
Student lending was up 170% year-over-year, the highest quarter of student loan originations in SoFi’s history.
Home loan volume was $1.4 billion, an increase of 74% year-over-year.
Product growth up 42% to a record 24.4 million products kept feeding cross-sell into loans, as tracked in the broader SoFi member and deposit statistics.

AI Lending Statistics: Upstart and Happen

Upstart describes itself as connecting millions of consumers to more than 100 banks and credit unions through its AI models.
Upstart’s contribution profit reached an all-time high of $193 million, up 37% YoY in Q2 2026.
The lender’s total revenue was $365 million, up 42% YoY.
Happen produced record pre-tax income of $75.7 million and a return on tangible common equity of 15.9%.
Two rival marketplace lenders now report the same automation ceiling of roughly nine in ten loans, which suggests the next efficiency gains will come from funding costs rather than underwriting speed, a theme running through wider AI in fintech market statistics.

Metric (Q2 2026)	Upstart	Happen
Origination growth, year over year	50%	29%
Automation rate	More than 90%	>90%
Profit measure	$16.5 million net income	$75.7 million pre-tax income
Diluted EPS	$0.16	$0.50

Source: Upstart and Happen Q2 2026 results

Cash App Borrow Consumer Lending Volume

Block says its loan cohorts have had loss rates of less than 4% through every cycle on the Square Loans side, and that Cash App Borrow does the same for consumers.
Year-over-year growth in Cash App consumer lending ran 40%, 51%, 69%, 82% and 59% across the five quarters to Q2 2026.
Block reported that risk loss rates remained healthy as volume grew.
At this scale, Cash App works as a consumer lender as well as a peer-to-peer payments app, which puts its Cash App user and transfer data in a wider context.

Buy Now, Pay Later Lending Statistics

Affirm’s fiscal 2026 GMV represented an increase of approximately 37% and 88% compared to the years ended June 30, 2025 and 2024, per its annual report.
In fiscal 2026, Pay-in-X represented 16% and 0% APR installment loans represented 14% of total GMV.
Affirm’s transactions per active consumer rose to 7.0 from 5.8 and 4.9 in the two prior fiscal years, as covered in the full Affirm GMV and consumer data.
Klarna counted 1.2 million+ merchants (+54% YoY) in Q2 2026.
The Klarna Card reached 6.5 million active users across 16 countries, up from 1.3 million a year ago, according to the company’s Klarna revenue and credit loss statistics.

Affirm reports on a fiscal year and Klarna on calendar quarters, so their growth rates are not directly comparable.

Worth noting: Klarna’s provision ratio fell even as volume grew: provisions for credit losses were 0.52% of GMV versus 0.56% of GMV in Q2 2025, even as volume kept rising. Loss provisions are a lender’s own estimate, so they can shift as underwriting and accounting choices change.

Is buy now, pay later regulated in the UK?

Yes. From 15 July 2026 onwards, any DPC lender who enters into a DPC agreement will need to be authorized for the relevant consumer credit activities or have a temporary permission under the FCA’s regime. The regulator also requires fully authorised firms to provide product sales data about their DPC lending.

BNPL Use and Late Payments by Age

BNPL use has climbed from 10% in 2021, when the survey first asked about BNPL, according to the Federal Reserve’s household economic well-being survey.
Use of BNPL was more common among adults making less than $100,000 a year, the Federal Reserve found.
Black and Hispanic adults, women, and adults under age 60 were also more likely to use BNPL.
By race and ethnicity, Black and Hispanic adults were more than twice as likely to use BNPL as White or Asian adults.
Late fees followed missed payments: 17% of those who used BNPL said they were charged extra for being late, a cost the wider buy now, pay later market data rarely separates out.

Late-payment risk: Slightly more than one-fourth of BNPL users were late making a payment, essentially unchanged from the prior year. Younger BNPL users and those with an income less than $50,000 were more likely to make payments late.

The income split shows the same gradient more sharply, with the lowest-income users the most likely to miss a payment.

Family income	Used BNPL (%)	Paid late among users (%)
Less than $25,000	18	40
$25,000 to $49,999	23	33
$50,000 to $99,999	18	25
$100,000 or more	12	11
All adults	16	26

Source: Federal Reserve SHED report, published May 2026

Small Business Fintech Lending Statistics

The share of firms applying at online lenders increased for the fifth consecutive survey year and is now similar to the rate applying at small banks.
Small business applicants reported that 42% received the full amount of financing they sought, while 36% received some or most, and 22% received none.
Applicants who sought financing at small banks were more likely to be fully approved (57%) than those at other lenders.
For online-lender borrowers, 4% found them to be lower than expected on borrowing costs.
Enova, an online lender to small businesses and consumers, has provided over $72 billion in loans and financing to more than 15 million customers.
The survey yielded 6,525 responses from a nationwide convenience sample of small employer firms, so results describe applicants, not all small businesses, as covered in the fuller small business lending statistics.

Firms turn to fintech lenders for speed, then pay for it. Many firms said they turned to online lenders seeking faster decisions and a better chance of being funded, according to the Federal Reserve Banks.

Key finding: Per the Federal Reserve Banks’ Small Business Credit Survey, 60% of those that borrowed from online lenders reported that actual borrowing costs were higher than expected. Borrowers at small and large banks reported that outcome far less often, which makes cost transparency the main friction in fintech small business credit.

Nubank Credit Portfolio Statistics

In Brazil, Nu reached almost 118 million customers by the end of Q2 2026.
In Mexico, Nu reached 15.8 million customers (and 16 million as of July, 2026).
In Colombia, Nu surpassed 5 million customers.
Credit cards made up about 66% of Nu’s $39.4 billion credit portfolio, and the wider Nubank customer and revenue statistics track the bank’s growth outside lending.

Fintech Lending Credit Quality Statistics

Enova reported the consolidated net charge-off ratio decreasing to 7.3% and the net revenue margin improving to 61% in Q2 2026.
Enova’s combined loans and finance receivables increased 28% to a record $5.5 billion.
SoFi’s personal loan book carried a weighted average annual default rate of 4.77% at June 30, 2026, versus 4.57% at March 31, 2026.
Credit metrics differ by lender, from provisions to charge-offs to modeled default rates, so the table keeps each lender’s own measure rather than forcing one scale.

Lender	Credit metric	Latest reading
Klarna	Provisions for credit losses, share of GMV, Q2 2026	0.52%
Enova	Net charge-off ratio, Q2 2026	7.3%
SoFi	Personal loan weighted average annual default rate, June 30, 2026	4.77%
Square Loans	Cohort loss rates through every cycle	less than 4%
US personal loans, all lenders	60+ DPD balance delinquency, Q1 2026	2.04%

Source: Klarna, Enova, SoFi and Block Q2 2026 results; TransUnion Q1 2026 report

Conclusion

Fintech lenders now write a 42% share of originations in US unsecured personal loans. Total balances have reached a record $281 billion. Volume is climbing at the edges of the market: subprime borrowers, check-out credit, and small businesses that value speed. Our read of the filings is that growth and credit quality have moved together so far, with flat balance-level delinquency and falling provisions, but borrower-level delinquency and small business cost surprises show where strain would appear first.

The next tests are regulatory and cyclical: the FCA’s authorization regime for buy now, pay later, and whether rising borrower-level delinquency spreads to balance-weighted risk. If the pattern in these filings holds, the lenders that keep automation gains while holding loss rates steady will set the terms for the next leg of fintech credit growth.