New Klarna Card Marries BNPL Flexibility to Visa Debit Rails

Klarna is piloting a card that spends like debit but can flip into pay later mode, extending the buy now, pay later (BNPL) model from the checkout screen to the in-store experience.

Unveiled Tuesday (June 3) at Money20/20 Europe, the Klarna Card is built on Visa’s Flexible Credential, a network capability that lets a single piece of plastic surface multiple funding sources, Klarna said in a Tuesday press release provided to PYMNTS. Issued by WebBank and housed in a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.-insured wallet, the card lets testers in the United States pay from stored cash or activate Klarna’s Pay in 4 and pay later plans at any of the over 150 million merchants that already accept Visa.

A wider launch in the U.S. and Europe is slated for later this year, the release said. More than 5 million consumers have joined the waitlist.

Visa’s Flexible Credential works behind the scenes. Consumers can pay up front in debit mode or activate Klarna’s installments. Eventually, cardholders will be able to select paid tiers that layer in cash back and merchant discounts, per the release.

“We consistently hear from consumers that they want the freedom to choose how and when to pay — whether that’s paying now with debit or spreading the cost over time,” Klarna Chief Marketing Officer David Sandstrom said in the release. “They want simplicity, flexibility and transparency — all in one place. That’s exactly what has made Klarna’s payment methods so popular online, and now we’re bringing that same experience to a physical card.”

In the release, Visa framed the pilot as the latest proof point for letting one credential do the work of many.

“Millions of people around the world have embraced the choice and control offered by Visa’s Flexible Credential, and we’re delighted to extend this to even more U.S. consumers, as well as bringing it to Europe for the first time,” Visa Head of Product and Solutions for Europe Mathieu Altwegg said in the release.

PYMNTS has tracked Visa’s all-in-one credential since its launch in Japan with Olive last year and its November expansion with the Affirm Card in the U.S.

Visa Chief Consumer Product Officer Mark Nelsen told PYMNTS in November that 70% of Olive-card users in Japan actively flip from debit to credit for higher-ticket items and back again for daily spending.

The move underscored Visa’s thesis that issuers will soon need a single card that can morph from debit to credit to installments on demand — precisely the experience Klarna is now testing with its own card.

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