The Credit Ledger For years the honest answer to does Affirm or Klarna report to credit bureaus was “mostly no,” and millions of people treated buy now, pay later as invisible money. That era is ending, but unevenly. As of mid-2026, Affirm reports every new loan, including Pay in 4, to two of the three major bureaus, while Klarna and Afterpay have publicly pumped the brakes. Meanwhile FICO has already shipped scores that ingest BNPL data, even though most lenders don’t use them yet. Here is the full map of who reports what, to whom, since when, and what it actually does to your score today.
The short answer
- Affirm: yes. All pay-over-time loans issued since April 1, 2025 are reported to Experian, and all loans issued since May 1, 2025 are reported to TransUnion. That includes Pay in 4, and it includes on-time, late, and missed payments. Affirm has not announced reporting to Equifax.
- Klarna and Afterpay: largely no. Both companies declined to start comprehensive US reporting in 2025, saying they want scoring models to treat BNPL fairly first. On-time payments generally don’t build your file with them.
- Sezzle, Zip, PayPal Pay in 4: mixed to no. Zip and PayPal don’t report routine payments; Sezzle only reports if you opt into its credit-building program.
- Every provider can still hurt you. A defaulted balance can go to collections, and collections get reported no matter who originated the debt.
The 2026 BNPL reporting map
This table is the whole article in one place. “Verified” means we confirmed it against the provider, a bureau, or primary reporting during research for this piece. “Check current” means the status was accurate at our last check but the provider hasn’t made a binding public commitment, so confirm before you rely on it.
| Provider | Reports to | Since | What’s reported | Confidence |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Affirm | Experian and TransUnion (not Equifax) | Experian: loans issued Apr 1, 2025 onward. TransUnion: May 1, 2025 onward | All pay-over-time products including Pay in 4; on-time, late, and missed payments | Verified |
| Klarna | No comprehensive US reporting of on-time payments | Declined publicly in 2025 | Defaults can reach bureaus via collections | Verified as of mid-2026; check current |
| Afterpay | No comprehensive US reporting of on-time payments | Declined publicly in 2025 | Defaults can reach bureaus via collections | Verified as of mid-2026; check current |
| Sezzle | Standard plans: no. Opt-in Sezzle Up: yes | Sezzle Up is a long-running opt-in program | On-time payment history for enrolled users; delinquencies | Check current |
| Zip | None | Ongoing policy per Zip | No routine payment reporting; soft check at application; collections possible on default | Check current |
| PayPal Pay in 4 | No routine reporting of on-time payments | Ongoing | Defaults can be sold to collections and reported | Check current |
Two things jump out. First, Affirm is now playing a completely different game than everyone else: its loans are real tradelines at two bureaus. Second, “doesn’t report” never means “can’t hurt you.” The downside path through collections exists at every provider on this list.
Affirm: the first mover, and what it actually furnishes
Affirm’s rollout came in two steps. Starting April 1, 2025, it began furnishing all new pay-over-time loans to Experian. Starting May 1, 2025, it extended the same treatment to TransUnion. The scope matters more than the dates: this is not just the long-term installment loans that Affirm had reported in limited form for years. It covers everything, including the short interest-free Pay in 4 plans that most users assumed were off the books.
What lands on your file is standard installment-loan data: the loan, the amount, and your payment behavior, good and bad. Pay on time and you’re building history at Experian and TransUnion. Pay late and that’s furnished too.
The gap is Equifax. As of mid-2026, Affirm has not announced equivalent reporting there, so your Affirm history is invisible to any lender that pulls only your Equifax report. Don’t count on that gap persisting; the direction of travel is clearly toward more coverage, not less.
Klarna and Afterpay: the holdouts
In 2025, as FICO prepared scores that could consume BNPL data, Klarna and Afterpay publicly declined to send comprehensive customer data to the bureaus. Their stated reason: existing scoring models were built around credit cards and traditional installment loans, and they wanted assurance that a customer who responsibly juggles several short BNPL plans wouldn’t be scored as a risky serial borrower. Coverage in Axios and the Wall Street Journal in August 2025 framed it plainly: the biggest Pay in 4 players were withholding data even as the scoring infrastructure went live.
The practical consequence for you in mid-2026: on-time payments to Klarna and Afterpay generally do nothing for your credit file. If your goal is building credit with BNPL, these are the wrong tools. If your goal is keeping activity off your file, understand that this is a policy choice by two companies under competitive and regulatory pressure, not a law of nature. It can change with one press release, so check current status before making any long-term assumption.
Sezzle, Zip, and PayPal Pay in 4
Sezzle splits the difference. Its standard Pay in 4 plans aren’t routinely reported, but its opt-in Sezzle Up program reports payment history for enrolled users, which makes Sezzle the one holdout-adjacent provider where you can choose visibility. Confirm which bureaus receive the data when you enroll, since program details shift.
Zip states directly that it does not report customer payment information to credit bureaus and uses a soft credit check at application. PayPal Pay in 4 likewise does not report on-time installments to the major bureaus. For both, the caveat repeats: a charged-off balance can be sold to a collection agency, and the collection account absolutely can be reported. Label all three “check current,” because none has made a binding commitment either way.
FICO built the scores; lenders haven’t caught up
In June 2025 FICO announced the first scoring models designed to include BNPL data: FICO Score 10 BNPL and FICO Score 10 T BNPL, released to lenders in fall 2025. Behind them sits a joint FICO and Affirm study of more than 500,000 consumers, which found that adding BNPL data moved most scores only slightly: over 85 percent of consumers changed by about 10 points or less, roughly what opening any new account does, and people with five or more Affirm loans tended to see scores rise or hold steady.
Here’s the part that keeps the practical impact small today: lenders adopt new scoring models at a glacial pace. Most credit card and auto decisions still run on FICO 8 or FICO 9, and mortgage underwriting has historically leaned on even older versions. A score that includes your BNPL behavior exists, but the lender deciding your application probably isn’t using it yet. So reported BNPL data currently matters in two ways: underwriters can see the tradelines when they read your report manually, and the data is accumulating now so it will be baked in the day adoption flips.
That lag cuts both ways. If you’re hoping BNPL builds your score, the payoff is partly deferred. If you’re worried a burst of Pay in 4 activity will tank it, the FICO study suggests the typical move is small, in the range of 0 to 10 points. Credit scoring is full of these counterintuitive timing effects; the same logic explains why a score can drop after paying off a loan even though you did the responsible thing.
What this changes in practice
Thin files finally get credit for BNPL discipline. If you have few accounts, on-time Affirm payments now build real history at Experian and TransUnion. That was impossible for most BNPL users before April 2025.
Missed payments are no longer private. A late Affirm payment is furnished like any late installment payment. And with every provider, default can surface through collections. The invisible-money mindset is now actively dangerous.
Loan stacking is visible. Running four or five simultaneous plans across providers used to be undetectable. With Affirm reporting everything, lenders and newer FICO models can see at least part of the stack, and more providers joining means more visibility, not less.
Treat BNPL like a loan, because that’s what your credit file increasingly says it is. Give it the same hygiene you’d give a card: know the due dates, autopay from an account that won’t bounce, and don’t open plans you wouldn’t accept as line items on a mortgage application. The mechanics differ from cards, where when you pay relative to the statement closing date drives what gets reported, but the principle is identical: the bureaus record behavior, not intentions. And as with balance transfer fine print, the details that bite are the ones buried below the headline offer.
The bottom line
Affirm reports everything to Experian and TransUnion now, including Pay in 4. Klarna and Afterpay largely don’t, by choice, and Sezzle, Zip, and PayPal Pay in 4 range from opt-in to no. FICO’s BNPL-aware scores exist but sit mostly unused, so today’s score impact is muted, typically 10 points or less either way per FICO’s own research, while the data quietly piles up for the day that changes. Act accordingly: assume every BNPL plan you open is, or soon will be, a line on your credit report.
This article is educational and not financial advice. BNPL reporting policies changed rapidly through 2025 and 2026 and will keep changing; verify each provider’s current policy before relying on it.