内容摘要：Wires are seen leading from a top floor corner window to the roof of the headquarters of the General Services Administration (GSA) are photographed Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Wires are seen leading from a top floor corner window to the roof of the headquarters of the General Services Administration (GSA) are photographed Wednesday, April 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

A company spokesperson said in a statement that the increase largely reflected the higher number of loans Klarna made year over year. The percentage of its loans at a global level that went unpaid in the first quarter grew from 0.51% in 2024 to 0.54% this year, and the company sees “no sign of a weakened U.S. consumer,” he said.Buy now, pay later plans generally let consumers split payments for purchases into four or fewer installments, often with a down payment at checkout.

are typically marketed as zero-interest, and most require no credit check or a soft credit check.BNPL providers promote the plans as a safer alternative to traditional credit cards when interest rates are high. The popularity of the deferred payment plans, and the expanding ways customers can use them, have also sparked public attention.When Klarna announced a partnership with DoorDash in March, the news led to online comments about Americans taking out loans to buy takeout food. Similar skepticism emerged when Billboard revealed that more than half of Coachella attendees used installment plans to finance their tickets to the music festival.

An April report from LendingTree said about four in ten users of buy now, pay later plans said they had made late payments in the past year, up from one in three last year. According to a May report from Bankrate, about one in four users of the loans chose them because they were easier to get than traditional credit cards.The six largest BNPL providers — Affirm, Afterpay, Klarna, PayPal, Sezzle, and Zip — originated about 277.3 million loans for $33.8 billion in merchandise in 2022, or an amount equal to about 1% of credit card spending that year, according to the

The federal agency said this month it did not intend to enforce a

that was designed to put more boundaries around the fintech lenders.That did not stall DOGE’s fire sale. In the presentation viewed by the AP, Ehikian said the agency has canceled more than 680 leases, listed or sold at least 32 properties worth $185 million and cut more than $50 billion in contracts.

Hollander has mostly operated behind the scenes. She rarely appears in Zoom meetings, according to employees. Documents obtained by the AP show spreadsheets she creates are stripped of her name and replaced with a more generic “GSA leadership.”The AP also obtained copies of some event invitations on Hollander’s calendar. They showed Hollander had several meetings with commercial real estate and services firms, including a brokerage firm and a real estate consulting company that helps companies economize their space. She also took meetings with a consortium of Washington technology companies.

Hollander did not respond to a request for comment sent over LinkedIn or through a GSA spokesperson.It’s not the first time that Hollander has led a cost-cutting campaign for Musk. A