As Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) continues to explode in popularity among U.S. consumers, Equifax and Qlarifi are stepping in to address a major blind spot for lenders: the lack of real-time visibility into short-term, point-of-sale borrowing behavior. The two companies announced a joint industry study that could reshape how BNPL activity is factored into credit risk assessments and fraud prevention strategies.

This initiative marks a first for the U.S.—an industry-wide, multi-provider BNPL group study using real-time consumer credit data to examine how short-term lending affects financial behavior, risk, and overextension.

A Clearer Lens on a Murky Landscape

More than 50% of U.S. consumers now use BNPL, according to a recent survey cited by Equifax, and 35% plan to use it even more in 2025. But most of that borrowing remains invisible to traditional credit bureaus, creating challenges for lenders trying to assess consumer risk, detect fraud, or manage portfolio exposure.

Enter Qlarifi, a startup purpose-built for BNPL data infrastructure. Its real-time consumer credit platform provides lenders with second-by-second visibility into short-term borrowing behavior, including loan stacking, where consumers take on multiple BNPL loans simultaneously without sufficient oversight.

By tapping Qlarifi’s live BNPL feeds, Equifax hopes to enhance its credit risk models, improve fraud detection, and offer lenders a more holistic picture of consumers’ short-term debt exposure.

Why This Matters: BNPL Moves Beyond the Credit Periphery

Until now, BNPL has largely existed outside the scope of traditional credit reports. That’s problematic—not just for lenders, but for consumers who responsibly manage BNPL debt and could benefit from having that reflected in their credit profiles.

“This joint study… will allow the industry to minimize loan stacking risks, quantify the predictive power of BNPL data, and maximize the benefits to consumers,” said Jake Osborne, SVP and GM of Fintech and Payments at Equifax.

Equifax isn’t the only bureau chasing BNPL integration. Experian and TransUnion have also begun exploring ways to incorporate BNPL data into credit files, but real-time, multi-provider data aggregation remains a major challenge—something this study seeks to solve head-on.

Building a Safer, Smarter BNPL Ecosystem

For Alex Naughton, CEO of Qlarifi, the study is overdue. “BNPL providers and traditional lenders have been flying blind for too long,” he said. “This is a crucial first step in offering a more transparent view of BNPL behavior and its relevance in credit decisioning.”

The research will also explore how real-time BNPL data can act as an early warning system for financial stress, identifying overextension before it spirals into delinquency. Done right, this could benefit both lenders and consumers—supporting financial inclusion while reducing unnecessary risk exposure.

The joint study is already underway, with multiple BNPL providers participating. Expect results to shape future credit reporting standards, particularly around thin-file borrowers, AI-powered underwriting, and fraud mitigation in short-term credit markets.

For the BNPL sector, long accused of fostering opaque, unregulated lending, the message is clear: transparency is no longer optional. If this study succeeds, real-time BNPL data may soon become table stakes for responsible credit scoring—and a new norm for the fintech ecosystem.