Even more frustrating than the discrepancies is the fact that however it's reported, how the data is used by lenders is going to vary wildly and unpredictably, and quite possibly invisibly, for a long time until this can factor meaningfully into statistical models, which takes a long, long time.
Even more frustrating than that, though, is the liklihood that the BNPL services will not change, at all, how they advertise it, and will likely hide or obscure the fact that it's reported at all. When it's built into carts like Amazon and PayPal (and many other sites), advertised heavily as not affecting credit scores, no credit check, etc, and is something many people have already used, most people will have no idea it reports at all. And a good many probably never will (unless it gains a stigma.) That makes this move highly troubling and turns the market into something almost predatory, when it began as the very opposite. I can't imagine the stores are happy about that. If the stores were smart, they'd change how they define their payment plans to be something other than "loans", change how they back them, so they can bypass this. Make it a "product subscription" or something. I'm sure they have smart lawyers that can figure it out. Especially since that's pretty much how it's presented to consumers.
As someone that used this feature a whole lot, I would have never known it started reporting had I not, by chance, happened to come to myFICO for actual credit card advice. I was actually all set to do another one next week. They're basically hiding this. That's extremely bad.
