BNPL and Point-of-Sale Lending: Insights for Lenders and Furnishers

Summary: The latest in BNPL reporting

• Select lenders are now furnishing buy now, pay later (BNPL) and point-of-sale installment tradelines to TransUnion’s core credit file
• The furnishing began in Q4 2024
• This BNPL data is tagged and segmented into a section of the core credit file that does not flow into scores and attributes powered by TransUnion data
• At this time, the data is only visible to consumers
  • Once several furnishers are live, TransUnion customers will be able to turn “on” BNPL data and TransUnion Point-of-Sale Attributes for online delivery
  • The data will remain excluded from non-BNPL scores and attributes
• Over time, BNPL data will likely be incorporated into credit scores and models
• TransUnion remains at the forefront of providing BNPL data and insights, and continues to collaborate with top BNPL lenders to accelerate furnishing

The “why” and “how” of BNPL

Buy now, pay later and point-of-sale loan data offer valuable insights that could improve lending decisions, especially for the younger, often non-prime consumers who tend to utilize these services. Recognizing the benefits of reporting this data, many BNPL lenders already (or are working with TransUnion to) furnish tradeline data and incorporate it into consumers’ core credit files.

A shared commitment to optimize and include BNPL data

TransUnion has partnered with BNPL lenders since 2019 to ensure the data is being thoughtfully incorporated. The goal is to avoid any undue negative impacts on scores and credit accessibility, and optimize its potential role in helping consumers build credit with on-time payments.

Many of these lenders think BNPL and point-of-sale loans should be treated as a new loan category because although they look like unsecured installment loans, they behave differently — we agree and have made significant investments accordingly. In 2022, TransUnion launched capabilities for ingesting and tagging BNPL data as a new loan type, preventing such data from immediately flowing into scores, attributes and credit decisions. In the meantime, BNPL lenders intending to report BNPL data and point-of-sale loans to TransUnion have been working to stand up furnishing and disputes processes — often from the ground up.

The work is ongoing, but tradelines are already flowing into consumer-facing credit files. These loans are only visible to consumers at this time, giving them the opportunity to understand how the data will be incorporated. As more BNPL lenders start to furnish, the data will become available for underwriting, and if appropriate, incorporated into scores.

Why BNPL loan reporting is different

A hefty 128M US consumers — more than 50% of adult Americans — have used BNPL loans over the last 12 months.¹ Many BNPL consumers leverage these loans frequently, generating valuable data to help lenders assess risk and expand access to credit.

BNPL and slightly larger, point-of-sale installment loans are transactional (like a credit card swipe) but structured as individual unsecured installment loans. Therefore, a consumer using BNPL or point-of-sale loans could originate several loans per year, which most existing credit models are likely to interpret as risky behavior. 

TransUnion recognizes credit models will likely need to be updated to treat these trades as a new type of credit obligation and not as multiple, small unsecured installment loans. As traditional scores cannot yet properly incorporate this new form of purchase financing, underwriting models will need plenty of time to adjust to a new product type (as the industry hasn’t seen one in recent history). 

Plans to incorporate BNPL data into the lending ecosystem

TransUnion has carefully designed how point-of-sale data will ultimately enter the credit ecosystem to benefit both consumers and financial institutions.

By using unique tags and a filtering mechanism within the core credit file, TransUnion will enable point-of-sale data availability on the core credit report. However, the tagged data will initially be prevented from being delivered to customers or affecting TransUnion credit scores and attributes within the environment (e.g., VantageScore® 3.0 and TruVision^TM trended data) to avoid unexpected or unintended impacts on consumer credit scores.

Currently, default delivery of the core credit file does not include any BNPL or point-of-sale data, whether that data is going into generic scores or lenders’ custom models. Current FICO® Scores and VantageScore® models will see no impact until scoring providers choose to incorporate this data after additional analyses.

Point-of-sale raw data and attributes will be made available for lenders to use as soon as we have sufficient BNPL data to ensure lender anonymity. TransUnion customers will then individually decide if and when they’re ready to incorporate the data into their credit strategies or custom models. Initially, we expect the data will be used as an overlay to existing strategies.

Availability of BNPL data for underwriting

Once TransUnion has made it available to lenders, those ready to leverage the data can choose to turn the TruVision Point-of-Sale Solution Suite “on.” Lenders with the service toggled on will receive TruVision Point-of-Sale Tradelines and/or Point-of-Sale Attributes on their core file delivery, tagged clearly so their models can identify and treat these attributes differently. 

Once the data goes live, lenders can choose to use new TruVision Point-of-Sale Attributes built from BNPL and point-of-sale data to round out their understandings of consumers’ financial positions and payment histories.

Looking ahead

TransUnion is continuing to work directly with large point-of-sale lenders committed to furnishing data in a way that could help consumers build credit. A number of BNPL lenders are already reporting and others aren’t far behind — but a change of this magnitude takes time. As always, we remain ready and willing to adjust our approach based on future in-market changes, government guidance and regulations. 

"BNPL loan data could be the key to one of the most important financial inclusion opportunities in a generation, helping the 60 million people in the US who have slim or non-existent credit files build credit responsibly. But how the credit reporting industry collects and treats this data may matter more than the data itself." 

^{- Liz Pagel | SVP of Consumer Lending, TransUnion *}
 

BNPL consumer resources

For consumers looking for guidance on how to use buy now, pay later loans responsibly, click here.  

^{1 PYMTS. “Pay Later Revolution: Redefining the Credit Economy.” March 2025}

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*Liz Pagel wrote an op-ed for American Banker discussing the financial inclusion opportunity underpinning BNPL and point-of-sale reporting, and encouraging alignment across the credit reporting industry for collecting and treating the data. For more information on how TransUnion is driving innovation and leading the industry on BNPL and point-of-sale lending, we invite you to read Liz’s op-ed here.