Buy Now, Pay Later Just Started Affecting Your Credit Score: What Changed in 2026

You split a $200 purchase into four payments through Klarna or Afterpay, paid every installment on time, and assumed it had nothing to do with your credit score. For years, that assumption held. Buy now, pay later loans mostly lived outside the credit reporting system. That is no longer guaranteed. FICO rolled out new scoring models built specifically to read buy now, pay later activity, and the three biggest BNPL apps are not handling it the same way. Here is what actually changed and what it means for your score.

Why Buy Now, Pay Later Suddenly Matters for Your Credit Score

On June 23, 2025, FICO announced two new scoring models, called FICO Score 10 BNPL and FICO Score 10 T BNPL, built to read buy now, pay later loans the way they actually work: short, four-payment installment loans that people often open several of in quick succession. Before these models existed, standard credit scoring formulas had no consistent way to interpret that pattern, so BNPL activity mostly stayed invisible to your score either way, good or bad.

A Federal Reserve survey found that nearly two-thirds of consumers had been offered a buy now, pay later option within a single year, which means this was never a niche habit. A borrowing pattern used by that many people was always going to catch up with credit scoring eventually. 2026 is the year it started to.

Not Every BNPL App Reports the Same Way

This is the part that trips people up: using buy now, pay later does not automatically mean it shows up on your credit report. Affirm began reporting customer repayment data to Experian and TransUnion earlier in 2025, so its loans can now factor into a FICO Score 10 BNPL calculation.

Klarna and Afterpay work differently. Neither currently reports payment data to the three nationwide credit bureaus in the United States. Afterpay has said publicly it will not start until it sees evidence that reporting will help its customers’ scores more than it hurts them. That means the same $150 four-payment purchase can be invisible to lenders on one app and visible on another, depending entirely on which company processed it.

Why This Is Still Messy in 2026

The inconsistency has drawn attention from lawmakers. In May 2026, Senator Elizabeth Warren and other members of the Senate Banking Committee sent letters to Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion, pressing the bureaus on how they handle buy now, pay later data and whether consumers understand which of their loans are actually being reported.

The core concern is fairness. A borrower who pays an Affirm loan on time can build credit history from it, while a borrower with identical payment habits on Klarna or Afterpay gets no credit for it at all. Regulators have also flagged that BNPL data has historically been kept in separate “specialty” credit files rather than the core file most lenders pull, which can keep it from affecting your score even when it is technically being reported somewhere.

What This Means If You Have Never Missed a Payment

If your BNPL history is clean, the shift is mostly good news, with a catch. On-time payments through a reporting lender like Affirm can now start contributing positive history to your file, the same way an on-time car payment or credit card payment would.

That benefit only exists where reporting exists, though. Paying Klarna or Afterpay perfectly on time currently builds you nothing with the credit bureaus, since neither app reports to them yet. If you are trying to build credit on purpose, it is worth knowing that not every BNPL app is doing that quiet work in the background.

What This Means If You Have Missed One

Missed payments are where this shift carries real risk. Multiple industry surveys have found that roughly a third to 41 percent of buy now, pay later users report missing at least one payment, even though outright default rates stay low, closer to 2 percent.

As more BNPL providers move toward reporting, a missed payment stops being just a late-fee problem and starts being a credit-file problem. A late Affirm payment can now show up the way a late credit card payment does. That is a real change from a few years ago, when a missed BNPL payment mostly cost you money, not credit history.

What to Actually Do About It

Start by pulling your own credit report through AnnualCreditReport.com to see which of your buy now, pay later loans, if any, already appear. Treat every BNPL installment like a credit card minimum payment: due on a fixed date, not a flexible expense you can push back.

If you are actively working to build credit, know that opening several BNPL loans at once through a reporting lender can look like several new accounts opening in a short window, which is not necessarily the story you want your credit file to tell. If you are weighing whether a BNPL purchase is worth it, our guide to the best buy now pay later apps breaks down how each one currently handles fees and reporting. And if you are counting on a purchase staying off your credit file, know that this is app-dependent and can change without much warning, since both Klarna and Afterpay have said their no-reporting stance could shift.

Frequently Asked Questions About Buy Now, Pay Later and Your Credit Score

Does using Klarna hurt my credit score?

Not currently. Klarna does not report U.S. payment data to the major credit bureaus, so on-time or missed Klarna payments generally do not affect your credit score today, though that could change.

Does Affirm show up on my credit report?

Yes, for many loans. Affirm reports repayment data to Experian and TransUnion, so its loans can appear on your credit report and factor into newer scoring models like FICO Score 10 BNPL.

What is FICO Score 10 BNPL?

It is a credit scoring model FICO announced in June 2025, built specifically to read buy now, pay later loans, including patterns like opening several short-term BNPL loans close together.

Can buy now, pay later loans lower my credit score?

Yes, where the lender reports data. A missed payment reported to a credit bureau can affect your score the same way a missed loan or credit card payment would.

Should I stop using buy now, pay later apps because of this?

Not necessarily. The bigger shift is that these loans are starting to matter more, so treat every installment like a real bill with a due date rather than assuming it is invisible to your credit file.

Final Thoughts

It makes sense that this feels confusing. Buy now, pay later apps spent years marketing themselves as a way to shop without touching your credit, and for many purchases that was true. It is not a safe assumption anymore. The one thing worth remembering is that whether a BNPL loan is reported depends on which app you used, not on how responsibly you paid. Check your own credit report, and start treating every BNPL payment as it counts, because increasingly, it does.

Photo by Money Knack: Unsplash