As BNPL adoption matures in Mexico, providers are no longer limiting themselves to basic installment plans. Instead, they are broadening their product portfolios to deepen consumer engagement and unlock new monetization streams. While core BNPL plans, ranging from biweekly to 24-month terms, remain foundational, diversification is quickly becoming a competitive necessity.

The three shifts defining this expansion:

• Installments Are the Foundation, Not the Finish Line:While early BNPL adoption centered around small-ticket purchases with 4- or 6-installment plans, providers are now pushing longer tenures (up to 24 months) and larger credit limits (up to $200K pesos). This shift opens the door to high-value verticals such as travel, healthcare, and services, segments traditionally dominated by credit cards or banks. Platforms like Atrato and Koin are forging merchant partnerships (e.g., Despegar, BestDay) to embed credit into big-ticket categories, signaling BNPL’s move into higher-margin, longer-tail financial engagement
• Credit Cards and Loans Enter the Mix: Several players are launching virtual and physical credit cards with no annual fees and cashback rewards, turning episodic users into retained credit customers. For example, Plata and Nelo now offer VIP cards with cashback up to15%, while KabCash and Kueski are scaling unsecured personal loans up to $200K pesos with competitive rates, signaling a move into more traditional lending territory. These additions create opportunities to build proprietary risk models, improve lifetime value per user, and eventually challenge traditional credit institutions.
• Embedding Everyday Financial Utilities: Offerings like CoDi-based transfers, barcode bill payments, and cash deposits at retail stores are turning BNPL apps into daily-use financial tools. Aplazo and Nelo stand out for integrating these services, aiming to anchor users within their ecosystems through utility rather than just lending. This approach allows them to capture behavioral data across spend categories, deepen user retention, and play a larger role in the customer’s financial life, far beyond checkout.
  
  This wave of diversification reflects more than a competitive product race, it reveals how embedded credit is evolving into embedded finance. For a country where formal credit access remains low, expanding BNPL offerings beyond installments introduces much-needed flexibility, optionality, and inclusion. Features like virtual cards, utility payments, and personal loans help normalize digital financial behaviors for users previously excluded from traditional banking.

  However, as providers extend into unsecured lending and everyday financial services, the risks become more nuanced. Without clear regulatory guardrails, these offerings could replicate the same over-indebtedness cycles BNPL was meant to disrupt. At the same time, the move toward ecosystem-building signals a growing maturity in Mexico’s fintech sector, where credit is no longer siloed but part of a larger, more integrated value proposition.