WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats are seeking answers from the nation’s largest credit reporting companies over how buy now, pay later loans are being incorporated into consumer credit reports, warning that opaque credit scoring practices could pose risks to consumers already facing financial pressures.
Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, led a group of senators in sending letters to Experian, Equifax and TransUnion seeking details on how the companies treat buy now, pay later, or BNPL, products in credit reporting systems.
The letter was also signed by Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Mazie Hirono (D-HI).
The senators said the current credit reporting system lacks transparency and raised concerns about how expanding use of BNPL products could affect consumers’ credit scores.
‘Extremely Opaque’
“The current infrastructure of credit reporting in the United States is extremely opaque; the credit reporting industry has been very secretive about its scoring models, which presents major, potential consumer protection issues,” the senators wrote. “With the rise of data harvesting, credit reporting companies hold more information about consumers than ever before.”
The lawmakers said they previously sought information from seven BNPL providers in November 2025 regarding whether the companies reported loans to the major credit bureaus.
“With one notable exception, most BNPL providers do not automatically provide data to credit reporting agencies,” the senators wrote.
BNPL Providers Express Concerns
According to the letter, BNPL providers expressed concerns that credit reporting agencies could interpret the loans in ways that harm consumers, including by adding “unnecessary” tradelines to credit reports, mishandling situations involving returned merchandise, or lowering consumers’ credit scores based on how the data is categorized.
The senators also said providers raised broader concerns over the types of data used in determining credit scores.
“Given the exceptional growth in the BNPL industry in recent years, BNPL loans are becoming a larger part of consumer’s credit pictures at the same time that Americans are under historic financial pressures,” the lawmakers wrote.
The senators requested responses from the credit bureaus by May 18, 2026.
