Experian’s Industry-first Buy Now, Pay Later Bureau Will Protect Consumer Credit Scores and Provide Real-time Insights to Drive More Inclusive and Responsible Lending
27 January 2022 - 10:05PM
Business Wire
The Buy Now Pay Later Bureau™ from Experian
will provide lenders with real-time reporting, scores and
attributes
In a move to protect the financial health of consumers,
Experian® today announced its plan to bring more transparency to
the rapidly growing buy now, pay later (BNPL) industry. In the
spring of 2022, Experian will debut The Buy Now Pay Later Bureau™,
a first-of-its kind specialty bureau which will provide visibility
so lenders can help further financial inclusion and better assess
risk while preventing negative impact to consumer credit
scores.
Many consumers enjoy the ease of access, flexibility and choice
BNPL loans offer. In fact, 45 million Americans used BNPL products
in 2021 and spending on BNPL has increased 230 percent since the
start of 20201.
While Experian has worked with some of the largest BNPL
providers since 2016, the majority of BNPL accounts are not
reported to credit bureaus because today’s most commonly used score
models are designed to predict risk based on payment behaviors of
mainstream credit products, not BNPL accounts.
“Our mission is to drive financial inclusion while ensuring
responsible lending and we believe the reporting of BNPL payments
plays a critical role in achieving this,” said Greg Wright,
executive vice president and chief product officer for Experian
Consumer Information Services. “At the same time, we are committed
to giving BNPL providers the confidence they can report information
to us without negatively impacting consumer credit scores. We are
confident we have found a solution with The Buy Now Pay Later
Bureau that will help protect consumer credit scores while bringing
more transparency to the industry.”
The Buy Now Pay Later Bureau will allow BNPL providers to
furnish data on all types of point-of-sale products, enabling a
comprehensive view of consumer payments, including the number of
outstanding BNPL loans, total BNPL loan amounts and BNPL payment
status. To protect consumer credit scores from immediate negative
impact, detailed information related to each BNPL transaction will
be stored separately from Experian’s core credit bureau data.
Bringing more transparency to the financial services
industry
Justifiable concerns about the negative impact to consumer
credit scores has prevented many BNPL providers from reporting
information. In turn, this has inhibited traditional lenders from
gaining a complete view of consumers’ financial obligations.
Experian’s one-of-a-kind specialty bureau will provide real-time
reporting of consumers’ BNPL activity as well as Fair Credit
Reporting Act (FCRA) regulated scores and attributes that BNPL
providers and traditional lenders can use to make instant and
accurate credit decisions. By gaining a more complete view of
consumers’ BNPL repayment behaviors, lenders can provide thin-file
or subprime consumers who would otherwise be denied credit with
first or second chances.
To learn more about The Buy Now Pay Later Bureau, visit
www.experian.com/bnpl.
About Experian
Experian is the world’s leading global information services
company. During life’s big moments — from buying a home or a car,
to sending a child to college, to growing a business by connecting
with new customers — we empower consumers and our clients to manage
their data with confidence. We help individuals to take financial
control and access financial services, businesses to make smarter
decisions and thrive, lenders to lend more responsibly, and
organizations to prevent identity fraud and crime.
We have 20,000 people operating across 44 countries, and every
day we’re investing in new technologies, talented people and
innovation to help all our clients maximize every opportunity. We
are listed on the London Stock Exchange (EXPN) and are a
constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
Learn more at www.experianplc.com or visit our global content
hub at our global news blog for the latest news and insights from
the Group.
Experian and the Experian trademarks used herein are trademarks
or registered trademarks of Experian and its affiliates. Other
product and company names mentioned herein are the property of
their respective owners.
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Amanda Garofalo
Experian Public Relations 1 714 460 3739
amanda.garofalo@experian.com
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