Will 'buy-now-pay-later' purchases hurt my credit?

Video Transcript

Do buy now pay later services like firm or after pay hurt my credit score? Well, let's find out because these days you're probably going to find these services available on pretty much any website you go to. They allow you to break up your purchase into four small equal payments, making that five-hundred-dollar purchase feel, you know, a little less painful. I mean it's still five hundred dollars, that's a lot of money but 125 dollars every two weeks doesn't hurt quite the same way.

But what about your credit score, will it be feeling any pain during this process?

As of right now the answer is no. The majority of buy now pay later services request information regarding your credit using what is called a soft credit inquiry. A soft inquiry can occur when you just go and check your own credit and it's also something that's used when businesses want to send you those pre-approved credit card offers in the mail.
 
It doesn't really matter why a soft inquiry occurs it will still have zero impact overall on your credit score. But you know what, if you do fail to make a payment on this small loan, because buy now pay later is basically just a super short-term loan, if you do miss a payment and you just kind of ignore what's going on, you could have this debt sold to a collections agency which will ultimately hurt your credit.