{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.duckworth.senate.gov/news/press-releases/duckworth-joins-senate-democrats-in-pressing-buy-now-pay-later-companies-for-data-on-rapidly-growing-industry-as-trumps-attack-on-cfpb-leaves-consumers-vulnerable", "Duckworth Joins Senate Democrats in Pressing \u201cBuy Now, Pay Later\u201d Companies for Data on Rapidly Growing Industry as Trump's Attack on CFPB Leaves Consumers Vulnerable", "2025-11-25", "2025", "2025-11", "Democrat", "Senate", "IL", "Tammy Duckworth", "D000622", "www.duckworth.senate.gov", "duckworth", "https://www.duckworth.senate.gov/news/press-releases", "scraper", "[Washington, D.C.] \u2013 U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) joined U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI) in pushing seven major companies offering \u201cBuy Now, Pay Later\u201d (BNPL) services to provide critical data needed to understand the risks and economic impact of BNPL products, as consumers\u2019 use of these opaque products rapidly grows. The Senators\u2019 letter comes as the Trump Administration undermines the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau\u2019s (CFPB) ability to monitor the BNPL industry.\n\n\u201cBNPL loans are becoming increasingly common with consumers, with up to half of Americans having used a BNPL loan,\u201d wrote the Senators in letters to each of the companies. \u201cA consumer with a BNPL loan had, on average, $871 more in credit card debt in the month of origination than a consumer of the same age and credit score category who did not originate a BNPL loan that month. This could suggest that consumers are turning to BNPL when their other sources of credit are less available\u2014and may be taking on debt they cannot afford.\u201d\n\nThey then raised concerns about the lack of regulation of BNPL products under the Trump Administration: \u201cNotably, BNPL providers had previously been regulated by the CFPB pursuant to an interpretative rule that classified them as \u2018credit card issuers\u2019 and \u2018creditors\u2019 and classified BNPL loans largely as \u2018credit cards\u2026.\u2019 However, under the Trump Administration, the CFPB announced it would no longer prioritize enforcement actions against BNPL providers and withdrew the interpretative rule authorizing CFPB regulation under the Truth in Lending Act.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe are also aware of recent reporting that FICO is releasing two new versions of its credit score that will encompass BNPL data. The new scores will purportedly \u2018aggregat(e) separate BNPL loans together when calculating certain in-model variables.\u2019 However, multiple major BNPL players are not providing their customers\u2019 data due to concerns about FICO\u2019s current methodology and the effects on their customers\u2019 credit scores,\u201d continued the Senators.\n\nThe Senators concluded by calling for the companies to provide data on their BNPL products, their users and their role in the broader economy no later than December 9, 2025.\n\nFull text of the letters to Affirm, Afterpay, Klarna, Paypal, Sezzle, Zip, and Splitit is available on Senator Duckworth\u2019s website.\n\n-30-", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:52:45Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.duckworth.senate.gov/news/press-releases/duckworth-joins-senate-democrats-in-pressing-buy-now-pay-later-companies-for-data-on-rapidly-growing-industry-as-trumps-attack-on-cfpb-leaves-consumers-vulnerable"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.9581760969012976, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}