A growing number of consumers are taking out "buy now, pay later," or BNPL, loans to cover everyday living expenses, data shows, a sign of the precarious financial state facing many U.S. households.

A quarter of Americans now use BNPL loans to pay for groceries, up 14% from last year, according to a recent survey from LendingTree. The personal finance firm also found that more people are using such financing to pay for clothing, technology and housewares.

BNPL loans — which are readily available from financial technology companies such as Affirm, Klarna and PayPal, as well as from household names like Apple — let shoppers make interest-free purchases while spreading payments over several installments. The most common BNPL loans are "pay in four" products, which divide the total cos

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