Real time, cross provider data finally available for BNPL

With Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) use surging and concerns growing around fragmented reporting, global data and analytics leader Equifax has partnered with Qlarifi, the first real-time BNPL credit database, to launch a landmark joint study.

The study will be the first of its kind in the U.S. to use real-time data from multiple BNPL providers. With over half of U.S. consumers using BNPL and 35% planning to increase their usage in 2025, this partnership addresses a critical blind spot in the credit ecosystem. While traditional credit reports update monthly and rarely reflect short-term borrowing, Qlarifi’s infrastructure allows lenders to track BNPL usage across providers on a real time basis, surfacing indicators of overextension or financial stress much earlier. As regulators and lenders seek better ways to manage short-term credit risk, this marks a significant step toward modernising credit infrastructure for the BNPL era.

BNPL isn’t a single-provider issue. Most consumers use more than one BNPL provider, and many have active loans across platforms at any given time. Without a cross-provider view, lenders are left flying blind, unable to detect patterns like loan stacking, overextension, or signs of financial stress.

Legacy approaches were built to assess long-term products like mortgages and personal loans, and aren’t equipped to capture the high-frequency, low-value nature of BNPL.

In this space, what matters is how many purchases they’ve made this week, and whether repayment behaviour is consistent across providers. Treating BNPL like a mortgage creates friction without solving the problem. What’s needed is infrastructure built for the speed and structure of modern credit.

Crucially, the study will explore how this approach can protect consumers by identifying risky borrowing behaviour in real time, helping prevent loan stacking and fraud before it causes harm. But the goal isn’t just risk mitigation, it’s enabling BNPL to become a credit-positive pathway.

Today, good BNPL behaviour often goes unrecognised, or worse, penalises consumers, because existing credit systems aren’t designed to interpret short-term, low-limit borrowing.

“BNPL providers and traditional lenders have been flying blind for too long,” said Alex Naughton, CEO of Qlarifi. “This joint study, providing real-time data across multiple providers, will be a crucial first step in understanding how organizations can better serve the evolving needs of both the lending community and consumers by offering a more complete and transparent view of how BNPL behavior can inform credit decisioning.”

Qlarifi wants to change that. With real-time data, responsible BNPL use can become an asset, helping Gen Z and millennial consumers build a positive credit history from financial behaviour they’re already engagin

The announcement follows Qlarifi’s recent deal with Klarna in the Netherlands earlier this year. Qlarifi is actively exploring expansion into new markets, with further partnerships and deployments expected over the next 1

“Conducting a group study with an innovative partner like Qlarifi and multiple BNPL providers will ultimately allow the industry to identify the potential to minimize loan stacking risks and trends, quantify the predictive power of BNPL data, and maximize the benefits to consumers,” said Jake Osborne, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Fintech and Payments at Equifax.

For lenders and regulators alike, having access to this kind of data is a game changer. It’s not just about better underwriting, it’s about better outcomes. More inclusive credit, early risk detection, and giving consumers visibility over their financial behaviour.

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