How Agenly supports scalable customer resolution as BNPL enters a more mature and regulated phase.
BNPL has reduced friction at the point of purchase. Its next stage of development will depend on whether providers can bring the same immediacy, clarity and control to the moments when repayment does not proceed as expected.
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£13bn+ UK DPC lending in 2024 |
27% UK adults using DPC in 6 months to Jan 2023 |
20 NOV 2026 CCD2 application date across the EU |
From Rapid Adoption to Operational Maturity
Buy Now, Pay Later has moved from a specialised checkout option to an established part of digital commerce. UK Deferred Payment Credit lending increased from approximately £60 million in 2017 to more than £13 billion in 2024 (FCA, 2026).
Adoption is now widespread. Research shows that 27% of UK adults, approximately 14 million people, had used Deferred Payment Credit during the six months to January 2023. Among consumers aged 25 to 34, usage reached 39% (FCA, 2023).
Growth at this scale changes the economics of resolution. Even where default rates remain relatively low, a large portfolio can generate substantial volumes of missed payments, enquiries and repayment commitments. With relatively small individual balances, repeated outbound calls and manual case handling can quickly become disproportionate to the amount being collected.
The challenge is to scale the portfolio without scaling manual resolution at the same rate.
A Missed Payment Is Not Always the Same Problem
A missed instalment can have several explanations. A card may have expired. A payment date may no longer align with income. A temporary financial or personal difficulty may have affected the customer’s ability to pay.
A generic reminder cannot distinguish between these situations. A guided conversation can.
Agenly enables providers to turn digital outreach into an interactive resolution journey. Through messaging channels such as SMS and Viber, customers can understand their position, ask questions and move towards the options allowed by the provider’s policies.
Depending on eligibility, that may include:
Agenly can be configured around different BNPL products and repayment structures, including options such as moving an overdue amount to the next scheduled instalment where the provider’s rules allow it. Where judgement, empathy or specialist support is required, the interaction can escalate to a human agent.
The objective is not to automate every case. It is to resolve straightforward cases digitally and focus human expertise where it adds the most value.
Regulation Raises the Standard for Resolution
BNPL is moving further into the formal consumer credit perimeter.
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European Union |
United Kingdom |
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CCD2 applies from 20 November 2026 and extends the framework to many interest free low value and BNPL arrangements subject to scope and national implementation. |
Qualifying Deferred Payment Credit offered by third-party lenders has been regulated by the FCA since 15 July 2026. |
Across both frameworks, the direction is clear: greater emphasis on transparency, responsible lending, customer circumstances and appropriate support where financial difficulty emerges.
That matters because BNPL users are not a uniform customer group. FCA research identified signs of low financial resilience among 37% of BNPL users and 50% of frequent users, compared with 22% of adults who had not used BNPL. The findings do not establish that BNPL caused financial difficulty, but they demonstrate why providers must be able to recognise different circumstances and respond appropriately (FCA, 2023).
For BNPL providers, the challenge is operational: approved treatments need to be applied consistently, customers needing support need to be identified early, and every action needs to be traceable.
Agenly also gives providers a way to manage routine early-arrears resolution directly, reducing reliance on outsourced reminder activity and avoiding the need to introduce a full-scale collections system for straightforward cases. It supports that execution through digital engagement, deterministic workflows, human escalation and end-to-end traceability.
Why Agentic AI Needs Policy Control
Agenly goes beyond a conventional chatbot by combining conversational intelligence with predictive capabilities and controlled operational workflows. Effective digital resolution requires more than conversation alone: the interaction needs to connect with policy, payments, workflows and operational systems. Beyond the Chatbot: What Digital Resolution Really Requires explores these capabilities in detail.
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Layer |
Technology |
Role in BNPL Resolution |
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Conversation |
Large Language Models |
Understand intent and guide the customer through the interaction |
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Prediction |
Machine learning |
Support timing channel and engagement probability |
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Orchestration |
Business rules |
Control eligibility treatments and case progression |
The distinction between these capabilities is important. AI supports communication, intent recognition and information gathering. Financial decisions remain governed by deterministic, policy-controlled workflows, so only eligible repayment options are presented. Cases can escalate when confidence thresholds or operational rules require human intervention, while interactions, commitments and outcomes remain captured in a complete audit trail.
This is what separates governed digital resolution from simple conversational automation.
From Missed Payment to Synchronised Outcome
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Stage |
Agenly role |
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1 |
Case intake |
Receive cases from servicing receivables or collections systems |
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2 |
Engagement |
Determine appropriate timing and communication channel |
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3 |
Policy control |
Apply approved treatments eligibility criteria and repayment options |
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4 |
Conversation |
Guide the customer through questions payment or a commitment |
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5 |
Synchronisation |
Return payments promises and outcomes to operational systems |
Agenly integrates through REST APIs, secure file exchange and event notifications, while the provider’s existing platform can remain the authoritative system of record.
Resolution Has a Commercial Impact Too
For BNPL providers, better resolution is both a customer-outcome priority and a commercial requirement.
Automating routine enquiries and straightforward repayment journeys can reduce the number of interactions requiring human handling, while digital self-service expands engagement beyond call-centre hours.
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What to expect |
Business relevance |
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40% lower operational costs |
Support portfolio growth without equivalent headcount growth |
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~ 10% recovery improvement |
Resolve more early-stage cases before escalation |
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25% lower cost to collect |
Protect the economics of lower balance accounts |
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Two to three times higher response |
Improve engagement through conversational messaging |
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Up to 60% fewer human handled interactions |
Focus specialists on vulnerable and complex cases |
Indicative business impact depends on portfolio characteristics implementation scope and adoption.
The Next BNPL Advantage Starts After Checkout
The first phase of BNPL was built around convenience at the point of purchase. As the market matures, that experience increasingly needs to extend to the moments when repayment becomes more difficult. Providers need to balance portfolio growth, customer expectations, operational cost and rising regulatory standards without turning every missed payment into a manual case.
Agentic AI creates an opportunity to approach that differently: straightforward cases can move towards resolution digitally, while policy control and human escalation remain built into the journey. As BNPL matures, repayment resolution is becoming part of the customer experience, the operating model and the economics of sustainable growth.
Is your resolution model ready to scale with the market?
See how Agenly can support a more controlled, scalable approach to customer resolution.