As housing costs climb, renters are turning to “rent now, pay later” installment plans to cover their rent. 

Rent now, pay later services pay the full rent to a landlord on the due date, then collect the amount from the tenant over two or more installments during the month. Affirm is the latest company to test a new rent product, piloting a rent now, pay later program last month that charges renters no interest or late fees. 

The pitch is that dividing up a large expense like rent helps people with volatile paychecks, especially gig workers and lower-income households. 

The push to rent now, pay later arrives as rents increase across the U.S. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, rents were up 3% in December 2025 compared to the same month in 2024. Apartments.com notes that the average rent in the U.S. is $1,650 per month, a 0.4% increase in the last year. 

Flex is one of the biggest companies centered around dividing up rent payments. Launched in 2019, the company now serves 1.5 million customers who send about $2 billion a month in rent through its system. Flex says most of its users are lower-income renters with a median credit score of 604 who use the service three or four times a year. 

How one Flex customer divided up his rent payment

One Flex customer, Kellen Johnson, 44, told ABC News that he used the service to split up his rent payments two years ago on a monthly basis. Johnson would pay $1,350 on the first of the month instead of the full $1,850 rent payment. He would then pay the remaining $500 on the 15th of the month. Flex charged him a $14.99 monthly subscription, plus 1% of the total rent, for administering the service. His total fees for the app were around $33 per month. 

Johnson was working as an independent contractor at the time, so his paychecks were unstable. He was willing to pay the fees because it was more convenient for him to divide up his rent payment. 

A competing rent payment company, Livble, does not charge a subscription fee. Instead, the company charges renters a flat fee ranging from $30 to $40 to use its services. 

Skepticism towards rent now, pay later

Some experts caution that rent now, pay later programs do not make renting more affordable — the underlying cost of renting remains the same. Borrowing to cover rent “consistently would be a mistake, particularly for people who already struggle keeping up with rent payments,” Chris Jackson, a certified financial planner, told CNBC. 

Meanwhile, LendingTree’s chief consumer finance analyst Matt Schulz told Fox Business that while rent now, pay later programs could help those with limited budgets, there are dangers. For example, people could still be paying off the previous month’s rent loan when the next month’s rent is due. 

“That could get messy,” Schulz said. “The danger with buy now, pay later is when you have multiple loans that you have to manage.”

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