SAN FRANCISCO–One of the biggest players in the buy now, pay later (BNPL) space, Affirm said it will now begin furnishing all new loans to Experian in the same way any other loan data is added to a credit report.

Many in credit unions have cautioned from the time BNPL financing began to take hold that members will have incomplete credit pictures due to the lack of BNPL loan information on their reports, creating “blind spots” for lenders. But that may not be the case much longer, with analysts saying they expect other BNPL lenders to follow Affirm’s lead.

The Wall Street Journal noted, for example, that TransUnion has started collecting data from two BNPL providers and said it is working to make the information available to consumers and lenders soon, once it has a more complete data set.

How it Will Work

According to the report, new Affirm loans—whether paid on time or late—will appear on credit files. Previously, Affirm only reported longer-term, interest-bearing loans to the credit bureaus (BNPL loans are typically interest free if paid off in four installments).

“Adding these accounts to reports won’t immediately have an impact on credit scores, since traditional scoring models haven’t yet been updated to include this type of debt. But they may soon, Experian said,” the Journal reported.

The publication pointed to a joint study from FICO and Affirm in February that found that 85% of BNPL users saw score changes of fewer than 10 points by adding the accounts to the credit report under a simulated model.

Concerns Over ‘Loan Stacking’

Prior to the rollback of the CFPB and its staff by the Trump administration, the Bureau had shared its concerns over  “loan stacking,” where consumers juggle multiple BNPL loans at once. In 2022, 63% of users had more than one loan at a time; 33% had loans across multiple providers, according to the CFPB.