Klarna Hits One Million U.S. Debit Card Sign-Ups, Betting on Installments

Klarna has signed up more than one million Americans to its new debit card in just eleven weeks, underscoring the Swedish group’s push to anchor purchase-now-pay-later services in mainstream payments.
The card, launched in the U.S. on July 4, allows shoppers to pay directly from their bank accounts but also convert transactions into installments inside the Klarna app. Issued by Utah-based WebBank and running on Visa’s network, it taps Visa’s “Flexible Credential” technology to toggle between debit and credit-like repayment plans.
Klarna said consumers are enrolling at a rate of roughly 13,000 a day, peaking at 50,000 sign-ups on September 23. “The amazing response to our card in the US shows just how strong the demand is for a fairer, more transparent way to pay,” said David Sandström, officer.
The U.S. launch is part of a broader strategy to build Klarna beyond its original purchase-now-pay-later model. Founded in Stockholm in 2005 by Sebastian Siemiatkowski, Niklas Adalberth and Victor Jacobsson, Klarna spent its first decade embedding installment online checkouts. In 2017 it secured a license, enabling expansion into deposits, lending, and cards across the EU.
The new U.S. debit card represents a recalibration. Klarna’s earlier American foray centered on a credit card, but regulators have since tightened oversight of the industry. In May 2024, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said providers of short-term installment plans must extend credit card-style protections such as refunds and clear monthly statements. Those rules pushed fintechs to rethink how they packaged credit at checkout.
Networks and issuers have also reshaped the landscape. Visa’s Flexible Credential—first deployed at scale by Affirm—lets a single or installment repayments. Apple scrapped its Apple Pay Later service in 2024, instead striking partnerships with Affirm and banks to offer installments through Apple Pay. Klarna’s new card is its answer to those shifts, pairing debit economics with installment flexibility.
Competition is fierce. Affirm’s Debit+ card, launched earlier, has become a key driver of customer engagement. Traditional banks are testing similar models, betting they can keep customers within their ecosystems as fintechs chip away at retail payments.
For Klarna, the stakes are high. The company reported $2.81 for 2024 and briefly returned to profit later than steep losses during the pandemic-era BNPL boom. But its September 2025 New York listing, one of the year’s largest fintech IPOs, came with renewed red ink as the group spends heavily to expand its U.S. footprint and card program.
Beyond America, Klarna has begun issuing the debit card in Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Sweden, with plans for Denmark, Germany, Norway and Poland. Its European bank license smooths cross-border rollouts, though consumer credit rules differ by market.
The economics are not without risk. Debit interchange yields modest revenue, while installment plans carry credit exposure that must be priced carefully as borrowing costs rise. Klarna is banking on scale: if it can convert a fraction of debit transactions into installments, it could deepen merchant relationships and build recurring revenue.
The millionth sign-up in the U.S. marks an ahead milestone. The harder test will be proving that debit-first BNPL cards can endure beyond the launch buzz—and that Klarna’s mix of simplicity and flexibility resonates in a market where regulators, networks and rivals are all vying to set the rules of the game.