MercadoLibre loan defaults rise in Argentina but remain below Brazil levels, JPMorgan says

Published: 2026-04-21 11:40:10 ET JPM

Published on 04/21/2026 at 11:40 am EDT

Loan delinquencies at regional e-commerce giant MercadoLibre in Argentina have increased sharply over the past year, although they remain below levels seen in Brazil, according to a report by JPMorgan analysing the company’s credit portfolio, Bloomberg Línea reported.

The proportion of loans overdue by more than 90 days in Argentina rose to 8.7% in December 2025, up from 1.8% a year earlier, reflecting a broader trend observed across the country’s financial system.

Despite the increase, delinquency rates remain lower than in Brazil, where they stood at 11% after declining from 15.9% over the same period, highlighting regional differences in credit performance.

The report also noted a slowdown in the growth of MercadoLibre’s lending portfolio, which contributed to the higher share of non-performing loans. “Given that MELI slowed its growth in May 2025, this naturally causes delinquency to represent a larger portion of the portfolio,” JPMorgan said, adding that when measured against the loan balance from three months earlier, delinquency rose from 3.3% in December 2024 to 10.1% in December 2025.

Argentina accounts for a relatively small portion of the company’s total credit exposure, with a loan book of around $1.1bn as of December 2025, compared with $3.6bn in Mexico and $7.9bn in Brazil.

In terms of user reach, MercadoLibre’s fintech arm, Mercado Pago, had 6.3mn credit customers in Argentina as of January 2026, representing roughly 14% of the population. These users held a combined 21mn outstanding loans, averaging 3.3 loans per customer.

Of those loans, approximately 205,000 were issued to small and medium-sized enterprises, with the remainder going to individual borrowers, signalling continued expansion of credit access despite rising risks.

JPMorgan also highlighted that annual interest rates in Argentina increased significantly during the fourth quarter of 2025, in contrast to declining trends in Mexico and Brazil. The bank noted that the reasons for this divergence remain unclear, particularly given that the introduction of a credit card product would typically support lower rates.