Giving AI Credit: How Far Consumers Will Let Agents Go

Consumers Are More Open to AI Agents Comparing Than Applying

AI agents can handle several parts of the credit process for consumers, including searching for offers, completing forms and tracking bill due dates. This report covers three of the tasks the survey asked about: comparing offers, submitting a credit application with the consumer’s final go-ahead and sending a one-tap repayment prompt. In each case, the consumer has the final say.

Sixty-three percent of individuals would let an agent search for and compare credit offers across lenders. About the same share would let it send a prompt so they can complete a recommended repayment with one tap. However, consumers are less willing to let an agent act in their place, even when they give the final go-ahead. Fewer than half (49%) would allow an agent to fill out and submit a credit application.

Thirty-six percent of consumers are not at all willing to let the agent submit an application, while 23% are not at all willing to let it compare offers and 22% to let it send a repayment prompt. The survey did not ask consumers why. One possible explanation is that comparing offers and getting a payment nudge feel low-stakes, while submitting an application starts a formal process with a lender that could make a significant impact on their finances.

Willingness to Use AI Agents Declines With Age

Younger consumers are more willing than their older counterparts to let agents handle credit tasks. Eighty-one percent of Gen Z would let an agent compare credit offers, as would 74% of millennials. By contrast, 60% of Generation X and 44% of baby boomers and seniors would do the same. For repayment prompts, the share falls from 76% among Gen Z and millennials to 42% among baby boomers and seniors. For both tasks, Gen Z is nearly twice as willing as the oldest group (1.8 times: 81% vs. 44% and 76% vs. 42%).

In relative terms, the gap is widest for submitting an application, the task consumers are least willing to hand off. Gen Z consumers are 2.1 times as willing as baby boomers and seniors, compared with 1.8 times for the other two tasks. Sixty-three percent of Gen Z and 62% of millennials would let an agent submit a credit application, compared with 45% of Gen X and 30% of baby boomers and seniors.

Household income is also linked to willingness to let agents help. Seventy percent of consumers earning $150,000 or more a year would let an agent send them a one-tap repayment prompt, compared with 53% of those earning under $50,000. That makes higher earners 32% more willing. For comparing offers, the shares are 69% and 55%, respectively, so higher earners are 26% more willing.

However, consumers in all income groups are similarly hesitant to let an agent submit an application. Willingness ranges from 46% for consumers earning less than $50,000 to 51% for those earning $150,000 or more.

Consumers’ Patience for Credit Applications Has Its Limits

Consumers seeking credit face two main kinds of friction. One is rejection, when the lender reviews the application and says no. The other is delay and effort, when a credit decision takes so long that it affects whether the consumer completes a purchase, or when the application asks for too much. This section focuses on the latter, drawing on two survey questions: how long consumers would wait for a credit decision before the wait affects whether they complete a purchase, and how many fields they would fill out before abandoning a credit application.

Consumers set limits on how long they would wait. Fifty-nine percent of consumers would wait no more than one hour before the delay affects whether they complete a purchase (6.0% only a few seconds, 9.0% up to one minute, 30% a few minutes and 15% up to one hour; percentages may not add up to 59% due to rounding). Another 20% would wait up to one day. Twenty-one percent would wait as long as it takes.

Consumers also set limits on how many fields they would fill out on a credit application. Twenty-three percent of consumers would give up after four fields or fewer, 46% by the 10th field and 66% by the 20th. Twenty-eight percent would complete however many fields it takes. These figures reflect stated limits, not observed behavior.

AI agents could help with forms and lending decisions.

Many consumers say they would stop waiting for a slow decision or stop filling out a long form. Agentic credit offers two possible solutions to these friction points. First, an agent could complete fields using information the consumer has already shared, reducing the effort a form requires. Second, agents could help with underwriting (how a lender decides whether to lend and on what terms). With a consumer’s permission, an agent with access to that person’s income, spending and bill due dates could support dynamic underwriting, which updates lending decisions as the borrower’s cash flow changes.

Consumers Want AI Agents to Explain Themselves

Consumers want to understand what an AI agent is doing. Seventy-nine percent say it’s very important or essential that an agent explain, in plain language, why it chose a particular offer or action. Just 3.0% say an explanation isn’t important at all.

The survey also asked which providers consumers would trust to offer an AI agent that handles credit. Fifty-eight percent would trust at least one of the providers listed in the survey. That leaves 42% who wouldn’t trust any of them.

Among consumers who would trust at least one provider, most (68%) would trust their primary bank. Credit card issuers come in second at 34%, followed closely by AI platforms, such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot, at 31%. Next come buy now, pay later (BNPL) providers (19%), big technology companies (16%), independent third parties (13%) and FinTech apps consumers already use (13%). Because respondents could choose more than one provider, the shares total more than 100%.

Among consumers who would trust more than one provider, 53% name their primary bank as the one they would trust most. That is about three times the share for AI platforms (17%), which rank second. Credit card issuers rank third at 10%.

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Methodology

PYMNTS Intelligence produced this edition of the Agentic Credit Report in collaboration with Thredd. It is based on a survey of 2,304 U.S. consumers conducted from Aug. 24 to Sept. 2, 2026. This report examines consumer demand for and trust in agentic credit. Responses were weighted to match the U.S. adult population on gender, education, household income and age, using U.S. Census Bureau targets.