Philip Crescenzo Jr., Southeast division vice president at Nation One Mortgage Corp., said he sees lenders estimating the borrower’s assets and comparing them to the BNPL loan balance.

“There are a few ways that you could approach it,” Crescenzo said. “Let’s say the client has $2,000 in their savings account, and the buy now, pay later loan, the balance is $1,000. It wouldn’t matter what the payments were in that scenario because they had the money and they could pay it off. They just choose not to.

“There is no clear direction. So, [lenders are] taking the asset approach. Is there enough to cover? If yes, we’re OK. And it will end in the short term, usually less than a year, so it’s less risky. And it hasn’t come up as a concern yet where I have a problem.”