Yes, Affirm does report to credit bureaus. For any payment plan originated on or after April 1, 2025, Affirm sends your account and payment activity to Experian, and for plans originated on or after May 1, 2025, to TransUnion as well.1Affirm Help Center. Affirm Credit Reporting Policy That means every financed Affirm purchase — Pay in 4, Pay in 30, or a longer installment loan — can either help or hurt your credit score, depending on how you handle it.
Which Affirm Plans Get Reported
Before April 2025, Affirm only reported certain longer-term installment loans. Short-term plans like Pay in 4 (four interest-free biweekly payments) and Pay in 30 (a single payment due within 30 days) stayed off your credit file. That carve-out is gone. Affirm now reports all pay-over-time products, including on-time, late, and missed payments.2Affirm. Affirm Expands Credit Reporting With Experian to Include All Pay-Over-Time Products
A few things you do with Affirm still carry no credit impact. Opening an Affirm account, checking your purchasing power, and using the Pay Now option (paying the full amount at checkout) are not reported to any bureau.1Affirm Help Center. Affirm Credit Reporting Policy
Which Bureaus See Your Affirm Activity
Affirm reports to two of the three major bureaus: Experian and TransUnion.1Affirm Help Center. Affirm Credit Reporting Policy Equifax is not currently included, though Affirm has said it may add other bureaus later.3Affirm. People Deserve Credit for Managing Their Money Responsibly
That gap matters. A lender who pulls only your Equifax report will not see your Affirm history at all. If you’ve been paying Affirm on time and hoping it builds your credit, that work only shows up when a lender checks Experian or TransUnion.
What Shows Up on Your Credit Report
Each Affirm loan appears as an installment account, similar to a personal loan or auto loan. The data Affirm shares includes the original loan amount, the current balance, the loan terms, and your payment history.
Because Affirm loans are fixed amounts rather than revolving credit lines, they don’t factor into your credit utilization ratio the way a credit card does. They can still influence other parts of your score, including the total number of open accounts on your file and your overall debt load.
Will Applying for Affirm Hurt Your Score?
For most Affirm products, including Pay in 4, the application uses a soft inquiry, which has no effect on your credit score. Checking your purchasing power is also a soft pull.1Affirm Help Center. Affirm Credit Reporting Policy
Longer-term installment loans may involve a hard inquiry. Affirm doesn’t publish a specific loan size that triggers one. A hard inquiry typically trims fewer than five points off a FICO score and fades within about a year.4myFICO. Does Checking Your Credit Score Lower It If you’re about to apply for a mortgage or car loan, it’s worth being careful about stacking extra hard pulls.
How Affirm Can Help Your Credit
Payment history is the single biggest factor in most credit scoring models. A steady record of on-time Affirm payments now builds a positive track record on your Experian and TransUnion files, which can gradually lift your score. The effect tends to be most noticeable if you have a thin credit file with few other open accounts.
Late Payments and Charge-Offs
Affirm does not charge late fees on its products. A missed payment still has teeth. Payments more than 30 days past due may be reported as late to the bureaus, creating a negative mark on your file, and will also limit your ability to be approved for new Affirm plans.5Affirm Help Center. Late Payments
If payments stop entirely, Affirm charges off the loan at 120 days past due, writing it off as a loss.6Affirm Help Center. Collections and Charged-Off Payment Plans A charge-off is one of the most damaging entries you can have. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, it can stay on your credit file for up to seven years from the date of the original missed payment that led to it.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports The debt still has to be paid, and Affirm may send the account to a collections agency.
Fixing a Mistake on Your Affirm Tradeline
If your credit report shows wrong information about an Affirm loan, such as an on-time payment marked late or an incorrect balance, you can dispute it two ways.
- File a dispute directly with the credit bureau showing the error, Experian or TransUnion, online or by mail. The bureau generally has 30 days to investigate, extendable by up to 15 days if you add new information mid-investigation.8Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Long Does It Take to Repair an Error on a Credit Report
- Submit a written dispute to Affirm’s credit reporting disputes team by mail. Affirm will investigate and coordinate with the bureau to correct any confirmed error.9Affirm Help Center. Credit Reporting Disputes
If neither path resolves the problem, you can file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but only after you’ve already disputed with the credit bureau and either received a final response or waited at least 45 days.10Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Credit and Consumer Reporting Complaint Notice