A new survey from Bread Financial shows that young adults, weary of lockdowns and cold weather, will do anything to pay for summer fun, including borrowing through BNPL providers, taking on gig jobs or cashing out cryptocurrency gains.

Younger shoppers are eager to socialize and travel after two years of pandemic lockdowns, and they will adopt a variety of payment methods — including cryptocurrencies and buy-now-pay-later systems — to fund their leisure time, according to a survey from Bread Financial.

Roughly 1 in 5 (21%) of millennials plan to use cryptocurrency to fund their Spring and Summer fun, according to the survey. About 17% of Gen Z and 19% of millennial consumers plan to pay for their summer travel plans using BNPL, according to the survey of 1,930 U.S. consumers ages 18+. The survey was conducted March 14 to 16, 2022, for Bread Financial by Lucid Holdings, a research company.

Don’t assume that this willingness to borrow money through BNPL providers means millennial and Gen Z shoppers are being frivolous with their finances. According to the survey:

  • 2 in 5 millennial (41%) and Gen Z (40%) respondents are willing to pick up a side-gig (e.g., Uber, DoorDash) in vacation destinations to defray costs.
  • Nearly 1 in 4 (24%) millennials and 1 in 5 (21%) of Gen Z consumers say they are willing to do a house-swap with someone looking to vacation in their area.
  • 30% of millennials and 25% of Gen Z consumers would provide labor to a work site to defray travel costs.
  • Most survey respondents said they will fund their plans through cash/debit (69%)

The spending plans of younger shoppers vary as much as the payment options they embrace, the survey shows.

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  • Nearly 3 in 5 (59%) said they plan to spend more on domestic travel, while about the same (62%) said international travel.
  • 55% plan to spend more on concerts.
  • Half (50%) plan to spend more on sporting events, and about the same (51%) said outdoor recreational activities

Most survey respondents said they will fund their plans through cash/debit (69%) and credit (50%).

Bread Financial, based in Columbus, Ohio, was formerly known as Alliance Data Systems Corporation The publicly traded company provides white-label credit card and BNPL services to retailers and is available through API integrations to merchants that use ecommerce platforms such as BigCommerce, Shopify and more.

On April 13, Bread Financial announced it would offer a credit card under its own name for the first time. The Bread Cashback American Express Card offers cardholders 2% cash back rewards on all purchases, zero annual fees, premium American Express offers and benefits.

Bread Financial also operates two bank subsidiaries — Comenity Bank and Comenity Capital Bank.

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