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FICO to incorporate buy-now-pay-later loans into credit scores

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11–20 of 690 posts

Re: FICO to incorporate buy-now-pay-later loans into credit scores

#11
post #6

This would probably only affect the people with the worst credit scores I imagine. I just don't see a ton of 800+ credit score people deciding to spend 5 payments of $20 for a pair of $80 shoes.

Plenty of people with good credit use BNPL loans; they are offered on much higher cost items than $80.

Re: FICO to incorporate buy-now-pay-later loans into credit scores

#12
post #6

This would probably only affect the people with the worst credit scores I imagine. I just don't see a ton of 800+ credit score people deciding to spend 5 payments of $20 for a pair of $80 shoes.

That would depend on the fees and interest, no?

Re: FICO to incorporate buy-now-pay-later loans into credit scores

#13
Theoretically, credit should be used for one thing: to make more money. (not less)

However, instead of using it to buy or construct a machine to triple what you can produce in an hour, the average person is using it to delay having to work that hour at all, in exchange for having to work an hour and six minutes sometime later.

At some point, you run out of hours available and the house of cards collapses.

i.e., credit can buy time in the nearly literal sense, you can do an hour's work in half an hour because the money facilitates it, meaning you can now make more money. If instead of investing in work you're spending on play, then you end up with a time deficit.

or, e.g. you can buy 3 franchises in 3 months instead of 3 years (i.e. income from the 1 franchise), trading credit for time to make more money, instead of burning it. It'd have been nice had they taught me this in school.

Re: FICO to incorporate buy-now-pay-later loans into credit scores

#14
post #8

It probably makes sense to do so. Not that I condone the FICO hustle. But small loans can add up quickly and delinquencies need to be measured for financial market stability.

If you're paying for your food delivery on an installment plan, you're probably going to have a blow up.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/23/business/doordash-klarna-...

Re: FICO to incorporate buy-now-pay-later loans into credit scores

#15
post #6

This would probably only affect the people with the worst credit scores I imagine. I just don't see a ton of 800+ credit score people deciding to spend 5 payments of $20 for a pair of $80 shoes.

I always thought it was interesting that the BNPL loans’ interest is subsidized by the retailer, which pay the premium in order to improve the chance of a sale (hoping to hone in on those who can’t afford it now and make it back on that extra spend). Which means high credit score, wealthy spenders could put everything they can on BNPL plans and profit the (minuscule) interest over time, but if you can do that on big purchases, maybe it’ll add up. Same way credit cards work, if you have the cash flow and always pay them off in full, you can make a few bucks in a HYSA for the 40 ish days before the statement.

I can see a future where a BNPL loan is not offered if the signals the checkout page collects indicates wealth, since they don’t have an issue of cash flow stopping a purchase. Imagine a loan that has a credit score maximum, not a minimum.

Re: FICO to incorporate buy-now-pay-later loans into credit scores

#16

Theoretically, credit should be used for one thing: to make more money. (not less) However, instead of using it to buy or construct a machine to triple what you can produce in an hour, the average person is using it to delay having to work that hour at all, in exchange for having to work an hour and six minutes sometime later. At some point, you run out of hours available and the house of cards collapses. i.e., credi…

I think that's a bit disingenuous. It's not always delaying work. There's only so much time and there are some people who cannot afford to live with the time in the day, the skillset they have, and the market conditions (both income and expenses). Your tone and word choice shows you don't understand the problem at all.

If somebody can BNPL or otherwise credit lifesaving medicine (such as the many people in the USA who die from inability to afford healthcare), that's not play money because they don't want to work.

Re: FICO to incorporate buy-now-pay-later loans into credit scores

#17
post #16

Theoretically, credit should be used for one thing: to make more money. (not less) However, instead of using it to buy or construct a machine to triple what you can produce in an hour, the average person is using it to delay having to work that hour at all, in exchange for having to work an hour and six minutes sometime later. At some point, you run out of hours available and the house of cards collapses. i.e., credi…

I think that's a bit disingenuous. It's not always delaying work. There's only so much time and there are some people who cannot afford to live with the time in the day, the skillset they have, and the market conditions (both income and expenses). Your tone and word choice shows you don't understand the problem at all. If somebody can BNPL or otherwise credit lifesaving medicine (such as the many people in the USA wh…

Obviously there are edge cases. Debt can be a form of insurance for the individual.

However, I stood in line behind someone who financed a bowl of noodles with afterpay, and it got me thinking. Those are the folks I'm talking about.

Re: FICO to incorporate buy-now-pay-later loans into credit scores

#18

Credit scores will tank further

Why? "The industry has long believed that consumers using BNPL responsibly should result in positive credit scores, as the majority of users are paying back in full and on time."

Because "most people pay back fully on time" is not the metric.

The real question is what are the delinquency and default rates for BNPL as compared to other forms of consumer credit.

Given the previous understanding that it didn't hit your FICO, the retailer subsidy as a sales lead, and the types of products people were financing.. one might assume worse..

Re: FICO to incorporate buy-now-pay-later loans into credit scores

#20
post #6

This would probably only affect the people with the worst credit scores I imagine. I just don't see a ton of 800+ credit score people deciding to spend 5 payments of $20 for a pair of $80 shoes.

I always thought it was interesting that the BNPL loans’ interest is subsidized by the retailer, which pay the premium in order to improve the chance of a sale (hoping to hone in on those who can’t afford it now and make it back on that extra spend). Which means high credit score, wealthy spenders could put everything they can on BNPL plans and profit the (minuscule) interest over time, but if you can do that on big…

Discriminating wealthy customers increases the risk profile of the loans which is already questionably high. Retailers are used to paying extra for credit card transactions anyways. BNPL really is just meant to compete with credit cards by splitting the runway across more months for the loan. Equally predatory business model but credit cards are able to offer the same interest amortization that you can do with bnpl through the rewards programs. They're effectively the same.
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