What BNPL Credit Reporting in 2026 Means for Your Score

Buy now, pay later plans are now landing on credit reports: Affirm now sends every new plan, pay-in-four included, to Experian and TransUnion, and as of October 2026 those bureaus say the entries are kept out of the traditional scores lenders use. The mortgage-score changes Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac made in September 2026 did not add a BNPL score either. So for most people, paying pay-in-four plans on time is not raising their score yet, while a late payment that does get reported can stay on the credit file for years.

Key takeaways

Of the five large providers checked, only Affirm says it reports pay-in-four plans. It sends them to Experian for plans that started on or after April 1, 2025, and to TransUnion for plans that started on or after May 1, 2025. Affirm says these entries are not yet counted in traditional scores or shown to lenders. Klarna, Afterpay and Zip say they do not report pay-in-four payment data in the US. PayPal's Pay in 4 pages mention only a soft credit check.
Experian says reported BNPL loans are not counted in existing traditional scores. TransUnion keeps them in a separate section of the file that does not feed scores and is not sent to lenders by default.
FICO announced FICO Score 10 BNPL and FICO Score 10 T BNPL on June 23, 2025. In March 2026 it said they will be offered at the bureaus once BNPL data is reported at scale. We found no lender that has publicly said it uses them.
Longer monthly loans are reported more often, but not always scored. PayPal says Pay Monthly may be reported and missed payments may affect your score. Klarna reports long-term financing to TransUnion and Experian, and Affirm's monthly plans since spring 2025 sit in the same not-yet-scored BNPL category as its pay-in-four plans.
Mortgage lenders selling loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac currently choose between Classic FICO and VantageScore 4.0, and still need reports from all three bureaus. FICO 10T is approved but cannot yet be used for loan deliveries.

This article is general education, not individual financial or legal advice.

What it means for you

If you use BNPL and pay on time: Affirm plans started since spring 2025 show up on your Experian and TransUnion reports. Plans from the other four providers usually don't. Either way, on-time pay-in-four history is not raising the scores lenders pull today. It may count later if lenders adopt FICO's BNPL scores. The provider table and scoring section below have the details.
If you've missed BNPL payments: Affirm reports each plan's payment history to Experian and TransUnion, though it says those entries are not yet scored. An accurate late payment on a reported account can generally stay on your report for seven years. PayPal says missed Pay Monthly payments may affect your score, and VantageScore says a BNPL debt that goes to collections can lower scores. The late-fee figures are in the worked example.
If you have a thin credit file: under current models, on-time pay-in-four plans are not building your score. FICO built its BNPL scores partly for people whose first credit is BNPL, but those scores are not in documented use yet.
If you're applying for a mortgage in 2026: if the loan will be sold to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, the lender will use Classic FICO or VantageScore 4.0, neither of them a BNPL version. Your BNPL payments can still matter for your debt-to-income ratio. See the mortgage section.

Who reports BNPL, and to whom

A "pay-in-four" plan splits a purchase into four interest-free payments: usually one at checkout, then one every two weeks. Most of these companies also offer longer monthly installment loans, which can charge interest, and the two are often reported differently. The table shows what each provider's own pages said when checked on October 3, 2026.

Provider	Pay-in-four plans	Longer monthly loans
Affirm	Reported, with payment history. Experian receives plans that started on or after April 1, 2025 (Affirm and Experian, March 2025), and TransUnion plans that started on or after May 1, 2025 (Affirm and TransUnion, April 2025). Neither announcement covers Equifax.	Reported in the same way, and Affirm says these too are not yet factored into traditional scores. Before April 1, 2025, Affirm reported only its longer monthly installment loans to Experian, not Pay in 4.
Klarna	Not reported in the US, according to Klarna's December 9, 2025 letter to senators. Klarna said the US reporting system "cannot yet accommodate" short-term, interest-free BNPL.	Long-term financing is reported to TransUnion and Experian (same letter). When Klarna began reporting its Term Loan to TransUnion on November 1, 2024, it said the data would be visible only to the customer and would not affect scores at that time.
Afterpay	Not reported in the US. Afterpay says it won't report until it sees evidence that BNPL data "will help, not hurt" its customers' scores (Afterpay help center).	Pay Monthly loans with a finance fee are issued by First Electronic Bank and involve a credit check. The help pages checked do not say whether these loans are reported.
PayPal	The Pay Later page says Pay in 4 may require a soft credit check that won't affect your score. It does not mention reporting.	Pay Monthly loans are made by WebBank. If one is approved and used, PayPal may report the loan amount and payment history, which "may impact your credit score." PayPal does not name the bureaus.
Zip	Zip's January 2025 explainer says it does not report customer payment information. Its loan agreement still says Zip may report your account and that late or missed payments may show on your report.	Not covered on the pages checked.

Affirm's April 22, 2025 announcement with TransUnion said these entries, monthly installments included, "will not be factored into traditional credit scores nor visible to lenders in the near-term." Its March 2025 announcement with Experian said the new reporting would not count in traditional scores in the near term, and that lenders pulling Experian reports would see this history as more providers report.

Why today's scores mostly skip it

The bureaus keep BNPL entries apart

All three bureaus can now accept BNPL data, but they handle it carefully:

Experian: BNPL loans show on the report and are clearly labeled as BNPL. Lenders will see them as more providers report. Experian says they are not counted in existing traditional scores "at this time" (Experian BNPL FAQ, undated).
TransUnion: BNPL loans are visible to you, but companies that pull your report can't use them, and they don't affect scores calculated from TransUnion data (TransUnion consumer guide). TransUnion's guidance for lenders says the data is tagged and kept out of VantageScore 3.0. Lenders will be able to switch it on once more furnishers report.
Equifax: Equifax has accepted pay-in-four data since February 2022 and labels it with a BNPL industry code that lenders can see. It says it can "suppress" pay-in-four entries from existing scoring models (Equifax, April 10, 2024).

VantageScore's own FAQ is less firm. It says reported BNPL loans "can impact" scores, and that a missed payment or an account in collections can lower them. The FAQ does not say which VantageScore versions it means, and it does not address the bureaus' BNPL tagging. Experian and TransUnion say they hold BNPL entries out of today's scores, while Equifax says only that it is able to suppress them.

Why BNPL is hard to score

FICO groups what drives a score into five categories: payment history (35%), amounts owed (30%), length of credit history (15%), new credit (10%) and credit mix (10%) (myFICO). Under "new credit," myFICO says opening several accounts in a short time represents a greater risk. BNPL borrowers took out 9.5 loans on average in 2022, according to the CFPB study covered below, so reported plans could look like a burst of new accounts. FICO's BNPL scores handle this by grouping a person's BNPL loans together when calculating some parts of the score, and TransUnion says it holds BNPL data back from existing scores to avoid unintended effects.

Credit utilization is where many people's assumptions go wrong. FICO's utilization ratio, the share of your available credit you are using, is measured on revolving accounts such as credit cards. For installment loans, FICO compares what you still owe with the original loan amount (myFICO, amounts owed). A pay-in-four plan is a short installment loan with no credit limit. Even when one is reported, there is nothing for it to count against in the credit card utilization ratio. The exception is paying installments with a credit card: those charges add to the card balance and do count. The pay-in-four providers that describe their checks say they use soft credit checks, which do not affect scores.

FICO's BNPL scores are built but not in documented use

FICO announced FICO Score 10 BNPL and FICO Score 10 T BNPL on June 23, 2025. It said they would be available in fall 2025, offered alongside existing FICO Scores at no extra fee from FICO. A FICO post dated March 12, 2026 describes them as "new, purpose-built score versions," not changes to existing models. It says they will be offered at the bureaus as BNPL data becomes available at scale. As of October 3, 2026, we found no lender or bureau saying publicly that it uses either score, so their use by lenders is unconfirmed.

The likely effect is modest. In a 12-month study with Affirm published February 4, 2025, FICO simulated adding Affirm loans to the files of more than 500,000 consumers. For over 85% of them, the score stayed within 10 points either way. Most people who had recently taken five or more Affirm loans saw higher scores or no change. That was a simulation using FICO's new method. It is not a forecast for any one person.

Mortgages and the new score rules

The FHFA's credit score page (updated October 2, 2026) sets out the current rules for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans:

Lenders choose Classic FICO or VantageScore 4.0 for each loan and must use the same model for every borrower on that loan.
VantageScore 4.0 started with a limited group of approved lenders after an April 22, 2026 announcement and was opened to all approved lenders, with no prior written approval needed, on September 9, 2026. On September 30, 2026, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac published adjustments to align their upfront fees across the two models.
FICO 10T is approved, but "not currently eligible for delivery." Historical FICO 10T score data was published on July 1, 2026.
Reports from all three bureaus (tri-merge) are still required. Optional two-report (bi-merge) reporting was postponed in January 2025 to a date to be determined.

None of these is a BNPL score. FHA-insured loans follow separate rules: the same April 22 announcement said FHA will permit VantageScore 4.0 and FICO 10T, also not BNPL versions. What matters more for a mortgage applicant is your monthly debt. Fannie Mae's Selling Guide section B3-6-05 (section dated August 5, 2026) counts installment debt not secured by a financial asset in your debt-to-income ratio if more than ten monthly payments remain. A debt with fewer payments left should also be counted if it significantly affects your ability to meet your credit obligations. The guide does not mention BNPL. Our reading, not Fannie Mae's guidance: a 12- or 24-month BNPL loan with more than ten payments left falls into the first group, and pay-in-four plans, with three or fewer payments left after checkout, can only fall under the second. Because Affirm says its reported plans are not yet visible to lenders, the credit report alone may not show a lender your BNPL debts.

How overlapping plans add up

Overlapping plans are common. In the CFPB's January 2025 study of pay-in-four loans from six large providers, 21% of consumers with a credit record used BNPL in 2022. About 63% of those borrowers had more than one loan open at the same time during the year, and 33% did so with more than one company. BNPL borrowers' average credit card utilization ran between 60% and 66%, compared with 34% for consumers never seen using BNPL. The CFPB's December 2025 market report found that at the four of six surveyed firms that charged late fees, 4.1% of BNPL loans were assessed one in 2023, down from 5.2% in 2022.

Illustrative example: three pay-in-four plans with the first payment at checkout and the rest every two weeks.

installment     = purchase price ÷ 4
due on a date   = sum of every plan's installment falling on that date

Plan A: $200 on Sep 1  -> $50 on Sep 1, Sep 15, Sep 29, Oct 13
Plan B: $120 on Sep 15 -> $30 on Sep 15, Sep 29, Oct 13, Oct 27
Plan C: $360 on Sep 29 -> $90 on Sep 29, Oct 13, Oct 27, Nov 10

Month	Debits	Total
September	$50 + ($50 + $30) + ($50 + $30 + $90)	$300
October	($50 + $30 + $90) + ($30 + $90)	$290
November	$90	$90

The three purchases total $680, and no single payment is larger than $90. Even so, $170 leaves the account on both September 29 and October 13, and September and October each take about $300. Suppose the October 13 debits failed and each plan were with a different provider charging late fees. Klarna's US Pay in 4 allows up to $7, Zip's loan agreement up to $7, and Afterpay's up to $8 (capped at 25% of the order and charged after 10 days unpaid). That adds up to as much as $22 in late fees, before any overdraft charge from your bank. Actual fees can be lower by state; Afterpay, for example, charges none to Rhode Island residents. Affirm says it never charges late fees, and PayPal's Pay Later page says Pay in 4 has none. Had all three been Affirm plans, there would be no late fees, but all three plans would appear on your Experian and TransUnion reports, and a payment left unpaid could be reported as late. Under Affirm's current statements, that entry would not yet count in traditional scores.

The CFPB rule that came and went

On May 22, 2024, the CFPB issued an interpretive rule treating BNPL lenders that offer digital accounts as "card issuers" under Regulation Z. That would have given BNPL users credit card protections such as billing disputes and periodic statements. The rule was published May 31, 2024 and applied from July 30, 2024. On May 6, 2025, the CFPB said it would not prioritize enforcing it. On May 12, 2025, it withdrew the rule (90 FR 20084), along with many other guidance documents issued since 2011.

The rule never dealt with credit scores. Its withdrawal does mean that dispute and refund rights for BNPL purchases now depend largely on each provider's loan agreement and on other laws. The CFPB's research reports cited above still stand. In May 2026, four senators asked the three bureaus how they treat BNPL data, with answers due May 18 (Senate Banking Committee minority release, May 6, 2026). No public replies were found.

Frequently asked questions

Why does an Affirm plan show on my Experian report but not on Equifax?

Affirm's announcements name only Experian and TransUnion. TransUnion only receives plans that started on or after May 1, 2025, so an older plan may appear on Experian alone. A difference between bureaus is not an error on its own.

Will paying off a late Affirm plan remove the late mark?

Not by itself. Paying the balance changes the amount owed, but an accurate late payment is part of the account's history. Under the CFPB's dispute guidance, a furnisher must fix or remove information that is wrong or can't be verified, not an accurate late payment. If a dispute confirms the entry is accurate, you can ask the bureau to add a statement explaining the dispute.

How long can a late BNPL payment stay on my report?

The CFPB says a credit reporting company can generally report most negative information for seven years. That covers a late payment from a provider that reports, and a BNPL debt that later appears as a collection account. Lawsuits and judgments can stay longer, and the time limits do not apply to some large credit, insurance and job applications. The CFPB page does not say that paying the balance shortens the period.

Can I check my own FICO Score 10 BNPL?

Probably not yet. FICO's March 2026 post says the BNPL scores will be offered at the bureaus as BNPL data becomes available at scale. We found no consumer score service listing FICO Score 10 BNPL as of October 3, 2026. The scores shown in most apps and card statements are other FICO or VantageScore versions.

Do BNPL borrowers default more often than on credit cards?

Not in the CFPB's data. Its January 2025 study found BNPL borrowers defaulted on 2% of their BNPL loans from 2019 to 2022, compared with 10% of the credit cards those same borrowers held. The CFPB said required automatic repayments are a likely reason. Its December 2025 report found 1.83% of BNPL loans were charged off in 2023, down from 2.63% in 2022.

Before your next BNPL plan

Get your free reports at AnnualCreditReport.com. The FTC says all three bureaus have made the free weekly report permanent. Check Experian and TransUnion first if you use Affirm.
Check each BNPL entry against your plan terms: the start date, the amount, and whether a returned item still shows a balance. A payment you made in the last few weeks may not show yet.
If something is wrong, dispute it with the bureau and with the provider. The CFPB says furnishers generally must investigate within 30 days and must correct or remove information that is wrong or can't be verified.
Set up autopay from an account that will have the money on each due date. Then list every open plan with its due dates, as in the example above. Overlapping two-week schedules are where missed payments and overdrafts start.
Before a mortgage or car loan application, ask the lender which score it uses and how it counts BNPL payments in your debt-to-income ratio.