More consumers are using buy now, pay later options to purchase groceries, and about 41% of those are not paying their bills on time, according to new Lending Tree data released Friday, reports NBC News.

According to the survey, conducted April 2-3 among 2,000 U.S. consumers ages 18 to 79, 51% said they have used a buy now, pay later service like Affirm or Klarna.

Of those 51%, 41% said they paid late in the past year, up from 34% a year ago.

"A lot of people are struggling and looking for ways to extend their budget," Lending Tree's chief consumer finance analyst, Matt Schulz Schulz, told NBC News.

"Inflation is still a problem. Interest rates are still really high. There's a lot of uncertainty around tariffs and other economic issues, and it's all going to add up to a lot of people looking for ways to extend their budget however they can."

"For an awful lot of people, that's going to mean leaning on buy now, pay later loans, for better or for worse," he said.

He said conditions are expected to decline before they get better.

"I do think it's going to get worse, at least in the short term," said Schulz. "I don't know that there's a whole lot of reason to expect these numbers to get better in the near term."

No margin of error was provided for the survey.

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