Banks and credit unions rate higher than the fintechs on buy now, pay later.

J.D. Power scores bank programs at 704 for customer satisfaction, compared with 603 for fintechs. Almost none of the spending is ours.

The gap is timing.

Our pay later arrives after the purchase, the fintechs own the purchase itself, and the moments a customer needs money the most, the emergency repair or the gap before payday, arrive without a checkout button at all. Meanwhile, Affirm and Klarna have both applied for industrial bank charters.

Jim Marous lays out 3 levels of response based on when your institution shows up, from the card installment plan after the purchase to money already waiting in the mobile app before the customer knows what they will need it for. And he makes the case that the real advantage is not approving faster. It is the cash flow context that lets a primary financial institution structure the right answer, or say no when that is the better answer.

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