Good morning. Buy-now-pay-later loans are creeping into daily life and, for now, hiding from credit checks – more on that below, along with Jasper’s graduating class of 2025 and a Canadian teen’s upset Wimbledon win. But first:

• The U.S. Senate passes Trump’s big tax breaks and spending cuts bill as Vance breaks a 50-50 tie
• The future of Canada’s corporate watchdog is uncertain as its top position remains vacant
• Thousands of foreigners’ criminal convictions were forgiven by Ottawa over an 11-year span, raising transparency concerns

The jokes started as soon as DoorDash announced this spring that it was partnering with Klarna, one of the largest buy-now-pay-later providers in the world. Suddenly, customers could break up the cost of their food order into a series of instalments. “The year is 2026. I have defaulted on my burrito loan,” one X user predicted. “I finally finished paying off my Starbucks drink from last year so this is perfect,” another enthused.

If you’ve done absolutely any shopping online over the past five years or so, you’ve no doubt encountered a short-term loan service at checkout. The names vary – Afterpay, Affirm, Sezzle, Splitit; even Apple Pay and PayPal got in on the action – but the promise is identical. “Buy now, pay later,” or BNPL, allows consumers to divide a single purchase into smaller, interest-free payments, typically four equal instalments spread over six weeks.

BNPL lenders can offer zero per cent interest because they charge retailers a hefty transaction fee, typically three or four times the rate for a credit card purchase. And retailers are just fine with that markup because BNPL users have a higher tendency to impulse shop. They spend more, too – getting to pay later boosts the average cost of an order by 23 per cent. It all adds up: One February report estimated the BNPL market in Canada would hit US$7.5-billion this year. In the U.S., where nearly half of consumers have used a short-term loan service, it’s projected to reach US$108-billion in 2025.

Right now, these loans – which don’t generally require a credit check – do not appear on credit reports, so banks have only a partial sense of how much debt borrowers have taken on and their capacity to pay it back. That’s about to change. FICO, whose credit scores are used by 90 per cent of the top U.S. lenders, said last week that it would include a consumer’s BNPL payment history in its scores. And Canada may not be far behind. Equifax and TransUnion told The Globe they’re already working with BNPL providers to assess how short-term loans could affect credit scores. The lender Affirm said it planned to report all loans to credit bureaus in Canada.

That could dissuade consumers from leaning heavily on short-term financing, especially the Gen Z and millennial shoppers who make up the majority of BNPL users. They’re also the ones most likely to miss a payment – at least two-thirds of them have racked up late fees – and they’re twice as likely as Boomers to juggle three or more loans at one time. But even when people do pay their BNPL loans in full, it can involve trade offs. A study from the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada found that 15 per cent of users had to exceed their credit limit, go into overdraft, delay the payment of another bill or borrow money from family and friends.

Perhaps the better move is to regulate pay-later lenders, which have been allowed to operate in what one British politician called the “wild west.” In October, Britain’s Treasury announced new rules to force BNPL companies to conduct affordability checks on borrowers, follow consistent standards and offer clear information about loan agreements. The Biden administration introduced regulations last year to treat BNPL lenders as credit card companies, with monthly billing statements and access to refunds, but Donald Trump’s White House dismantled the rules in May. Here in Canada, pay-later borrowing is booming unchecked – without protections or caps to rein in the growing bite-sized debt.

Last summer, as their town burned, Jasper’s graduating class of 2025 figured they’d never finish high school together. Instead, parents, teachers, administrators, coaches and so many others worked furiously to give them a senior year that looked something like normal. Read more about their remarkable graduation here.

At home: Grocery stores, clothing brands and (no surprise) alcohol producers are still enjoying a Buy Canadian bump – but other industries have seen the momentum fade.

Abroad: A UN expert says that Israel’s lucrative business deals with more than 60 companies – including major arms manufacturers and technology firms – helps fuel its war in Gaza.

On the ground: Italy limited work outdoors, France shut down schools and Turkey battled wildfires during a sweltering heat wave that topped 40C in some areas.

On the phone: Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron