Equifax to Add More ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ Plans to Credit Reports

These “pay-in-4” plans have exploded in popularity in recent years. They are often used for small-ticket items such as clothing and makeup and are typically billed directly to a shopper’s debit or credit card. A $200 shopping trip, for example, requires $50 upfront and three more $50 payments billed every two weeks.

Buy now, pay later is booming in the U.S. High-end and discount retailers alike offer the plans at checkout online. Some merchants also offer them in stores. But the plans often don’t show up on credit reports, creating a blind spot for lenders that use the information on the reports to gauge an applicant’s ability to repay.

“Responsible lending benefits from a complete picture of a person’s financial obligations,” said Equifax Chief Executive Mark Begor.

Billions of dollars of obligations go unreported. Buy now, pay later company Afterpay Ltd. , for example, did $9.8 billion in pay-in-4 plans in North America during the 12 months ended June 30, more than double a year earlier. Klarna Bank AB transactions during the first half of the year in the U.S. totaled $3.2 billion, up from $722 million during the same period in 2020. The majority are pay-in-4 plans.

The payment plans are small—the average Afterpay transaction is $150—but they can add up if shoppers use them frequently.

Credit-reporting firms have faced technical challenges adding short-term installment plans to credit reports. Most credit reports aren’t set up to display biweekly payments. And there is often a lag between when consumers open accounts and when lenders send that information for inclusion in people’s credit reports. The lag can outlast a fast repayment period.

Some buy now, pay later installment loans for big-ticket items are recorded on credit reports in the same section as personal loans. Far fewer of these smaller, short-term plans, which in most cases don’t require credit checks, are reflected in credit reports.

TransUnion said it doesn’t include these plans on its credit reports but is working with buy now, pay later companies to enable reporting next year. A small number of buy now, pay later companies submit information about these plans to Experian PLC, which then includes that data in credit reports. Experian is working with buy now, pay later firms to add more of this information to its reports.

Afterpay and Klarna, two of the biggest players in the business, don’t report their pay-in-4 plans to U.S. credit-reporting firms. Affirm Holdings Inc. said it reports the full payment history of some of its loans, including on-time payments and delinquencies. The company doesn’t report its pay-in-4 product. All three said they have been talking to the firms about potentially reporting these plans.

One stumbling block: The frequent opening and closing of accounts can drag down credit scores. The buy now, pay later companies want to make sure customers who pay their bills on time aren’t penalized for frequent use of their short-term payment plans.

Equifax will add the pay-in-4 data to credit reports beginning at the end of February. Both positive and negative information, on-time payments and defaults, will be included in reports and reflected in consumers’ credit scores, Equifax said.

Buy now, pay later plans are especially popular among people with limited credit histories who don’t qualify for credit cards or other traditional credit. These consumers, Equifax said, should get a boost from the plans’ inclusion on credit reports if they pay their bills on time.

People who have thin credit files or who have no more than two years of credit history saw an average FICO credit-score increase of 21 points, according to an Equifax study, compared with an average of 13 points for the typical borrower.

The credit report will include when the payment plan was opened, the scheduled payment the consumer has agreed to make and the actual payment that is made.

Write to AnnaMaria Andriotis at annamaria.andriotis@wsj.com