A first-quarter survey by global information and insights company TransUnion shows that only a third of Filipinos believe they have sufficient access to credit and lending products.
This represents a decrease from 46 percent in the first quarter of 2023. Among generations, Gen Z emerged as the group who said they had the least access to credit and lending products at 32 percent, followed by Baby Boomers (30 percent), Millennials (28 percent) and Gen X (26 percent).
The quarterly consumer pulse survey by TransUnion explores consumers’ recent personal finance and fraud experiences, and what financial changes they expect in the future.
Gen Z Filipinos are tech natives who are comfortable carrying out transactions online, with 88 percent saying they have done so in the first quarter of 2024. About 89 percent of them expected their income to increase in the next 12 months — the most of any surveyed generation.
Gen Z’s technological literacy and personal financial outlook appeared to contribute to a trend observed with ‘buy now, pay later (BNPL) services — an alternative credit-enabled payment method that allows consumers to immediately finance purchases and pay them back in fixed installments over a relatively short period of time.
Among all Filipinos who said they have heard of BNPL (82 percent), almost two-thirds (63 percent) said they had made at least one BNPL transaction in the last 12 months compared to 61 percent a year ago.
Among those in Gen Z who said they have heard of BNPL (81 percent), an even higher percentage (65 percent) said they made at least one BNPL transaction in the past 12 months. This was up from 57 percent a year ago, the biggest increase among all generations.
More than two-thirds (68 percent) of Millennials who claimed awareness of BNPL (86 percent) said they made at least one BNPL purchase in the same timeframe.