BNPL Loans Hidden from Credit Reports: A Growing Blind Spot

The Federal Reserve has found that most pay-in-four BNPL loans are not reported to major credit bureaus, creating a blind spot in consumers' credit reports.

This is becoming increasingly important as usage grows: 16% of U.S. adults reported using buy now, pay later services in 2025, compared with 10% in 2021. The number of BNPL loans among five major providers exploded from 19.8 million in 2019 to 335.8 million in 2023.

The Fed's analysis focuses on the familiar pay-in-four model, which divides a purchase into four equal payments over six weeks. Most BNPL lenders don't currently report these loans to credit reporting agencies, partly because the unusual structure doesn't fit neatly into existing credit-reporting systems.