Mastercard Offers Installments in Buy-Now, Pay-Later Boom (1)

Mastercard Inc. will make it easier for banks to offer installment plans as consumers flock to options for paying off purchases over time.

Such buy-now, pay-later options have swelled in popularity in recent years, especially among younger consumers. With Mastercard’s new push, lenders will be able to approve consumers for an installment loan before a purchase or offer the option during checkout, the company said in a statement Tuesday.

As part of the new program, Mastercard will allow lenders to use consumers’ banking data -- information it has access to after purchasing the data aggregation company Finicity last year -- ...