Yes, Affirm does report to credit bureaus. Since April 1, 2025, Affirm has reported every pay-over-time plan it originates — including Pay in 4, Pay in 30, and longer installment loans — to Experian, with TransUnion added for plans originated on or after May 1, 2025.1Affirm Help Center. Affirm Credit Reporting Policy Both on-time and late payments show up on your file, so any Affirm purchase you finance can either help or hurt your score.
Which Bureaus See Your Affirm Activity
Affirm currently reports to two of the three major bureaus. Experian receives data on plans originated on or after April 1, 2025. TransUnion receives data on plans originated on or after May 1, 2025.1Affirm Help Center. Affirm Credit Reporting Policy Equifax is not currently on the list, though Affirm has said it may add other bureaus later.2Affirm. People Deserve Credit for Managing Their Money Responsibly
That gap matters. A lender pulling only your Equifax report will not see any Affirm history, good or bad. If you’ve built up a solid record of on-time Affirm payments, it only helps you when the lender checks Experian or TransUnion.
Which Affirm Plans Get Reported
Before April 2025, Affirm reported only certain longer-term installment loans. Short-term products like Pay in 4 and Pay in 30 were left off credit files entirely. That policy changed with the April 1, 2025 expansion, and every financing plan Affirm has originated since then is reported, along with on-time, late, and missed payment activity.1Affirm Help Center. Affirm Credit Reporting Policy
Some activity still stays off your report. Creating an Affirm account, checking your purchasing power, and using Pay Now (paying the full amount at checkout) are not reported to any bureau.1Affirm Help Center. Affirm Credit Reporting Policy
What the Account Looks Like on Your Report
Each reported Affirm plan appears as an installment account, similar to a personal loan or auto loan. The data shared includes the original loan balance, the current outstanding balance, your payment history, and the loan terms.
Because Affirm loans are fixed installment debt rather than revolving credit, they do not carry a credit limit and do not directly affect your credit utilization ratio. They can still influence your score through payment history, the number of accounts on your file, and your total debt load.
Does Applying for Affirm Hurt Your Score?
Most Affirm applications, and particularly Pay in 4, use a soft inquiry that has no effect on your credit score. Checking your purchasing power inside the Affirm app is also a soft pull.1Affirm Help Center. Affirm Credit Reporting Policy
Longer-term installment loans can involve a hard inquiry. Affirm does not publish a specific dollar cutoff that triggers one. A hard inquiry usually drops a FICO score by fewer than five points, and the impact fades within about a year.3myFICO. Does Checking Your Credit Score Lower It If you’re rate-shopping for a mortgage or auto loan around the same time, keep that in mind — extra hard pulls stack up.
How Affirm Can Help Your Credit
Payment history is the most heavily weighted factor in most scoring models. Consistent on-time Affirm payments now build a positive record on your Experian and TransUnion files, and that can lift your score over time. The effect tends to be strongest for people with thin credit files who don’t have many other accounts contributing data.
Late Payments and Charge-Offs
Affirm does not charge late fees, but missing a payment still has consequences. Payments more than 30 days past due may be reported as late, which creates a negative mark on your file and limits your ability to be approved for new Affirm plans.4Affirm Help Center. Late Payments
If you stop paying entirely, Affirm charges off the loan at 120 days past due, meaning it writes the debt off as a loss.5Affirm Help Center. Collections and Charged-Off Payment Plans A charge-off is one of the most damaging items that can appear on a credit report. Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, it can stay on your file for up to seven years from the date of the original missed payment.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1681c – Requirements Relating to Information Contained in Consumer Reports The debt still needs to be repaid, and Affirm may send the account to a collections agency.
Fixing an Error on Your Report
If an Affirm account shows up incorrectly — a payment marked late when you paid on time, or a wrong balance — you can dispute it two ways:
- File a dispute directly with the bureau reporting the error (Experian or TransUnion), online or by mail. The bureau generally has 30 days to investigate, which can extend by up to 15 days if you provide additional information mid-investigation.7Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. How Long Does It Take to Repair an Error on a Credit Report
- Send a written dispute to Affirm’s credit reporting disputes team by mail. Affirm investigates and coordinates with the bureau to correct any confirmed errors.8Affirm Help Center. Credit Reporting Disputes
If the dispute isn’t resolved, you can file a complaint with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, though you’ll need to have already disputed the item with the credit bureau and either received a final response or waited at least 45 days.9Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Credit and Consumer Reporting Complaint Notice