A new PYMNTS Intelligence report suggests the most important shift in consumer credit may not be happening among prime borrowers at all. The report, “Who Is the Subprime Consumer? A Behavioral Profile,” examines how roughly 44 million Americans with subprime credit scores are adapting to...
“The Schedule Shock: How Unstable Hours Turn Paychecks Into Guesswork” is the May 2026 edition of the Wage to Wallet Index, a PYMNTS Intelligence and WorkWhile collaboration. The report examines how unstable work schedules affect income stability, household finances and career mobility among Labor Economy...
Consumers are preparing for higher costs before those costs fully hit their wallets. PYMNTS Intelligence found that 58% of consumers expect economic forces to hurt their finances over the next six months, while the same share expects everyday goods to be affected most. The findings...
Consumers are not just cutting back. Many, especially younger adults, are layering one money move on top of another to keep up with everyday costs. That is the clearest signal from “Generations Under Pressure: How Younger Consumers Are Coping With Higher Living Costs,” a recent installment of the PYMNTS...
The paycheck-to-paycheck economy is becoming less about spending habits and more about the way Americans get paid. The November PYMNTS Intelligence report “Income Instability Is Redefining the Paycheck-to-Paycheck Economy” found that 66% of U.S. consumers live paycheck to paycheck. That share dipped slightly from September,...
U.S. consumers are reportedly facing increased financial pressure as tax refunds peter out. Economists and executives are warning that this cash crunch comes as fuel costs related to the Iran war impacts the economy, the Financial Times (FT) reported Monday (May 25). According to the...
The next fight for consumer loyalty may start before checkout, when shoppers are still deciding what belongs in the cart. A new PYMNTS Intelligence report, “Embedded Offers: The Billion-Dollar Opportunity Inside Recent Consumer Spending,” produced in collaboration with FIS, finds that many consumers are not ignoring...
Subprime consumers are often viewed through a narrow credit-risk lens. PYMNTS Intelligence’s “Who Is the Subprime Consumer? A Behavioral Profile” shows a different picture: a large, steady and measurable part of the U.S. consumer economy that is changing how it uses credit, installment products and...
The clearest sign of consumer strain may not be what households are cutting, but how many different ways they are trying to keep up. That is the central takeaway from “Generations Under Pressure: How Younger Consumers Are Coping With Higher Living Costs,” the latest PYMNTS Intelligence Generational Pulse...