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What to know about Afterpay, zipPay, zipMoney and your credit score
Do interest-free payments affect your credit rating?
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Interest-free payment providers such as Afterpay, Openpay and zipMoney have been invading the retail payments space. These new fintech companies offer you a way to purchase an item and pay it off in instalments, similar to a layby. However, in true fintech fashion, these products are not like traditional forms of credit.
This is what you need to know about how Afterpay will affect your credit score.
Payment provider | Does it affect your credit? | What do their terms and conditions say? |
---|---|---|
Afterpay |
No. Afterpay reserve the right to check your credit but generally do not. |
|
Openpay |
Yes. Openpay may check your credit report. |
|
Certegy Ezi-Pay | No. |
Certegy doesn't send your account information to a credit reporting body. |
zipMoney |
Yes. zipMoney will check your credit when you apply. |
|
zipPay |
Yes. zipPay will check your credit when you apply. |
|
Lombard Finance (including CreditLine and Once) |
Yes. Lombard Finance will check your credit when you apply. |
Where the Privacy Act permits, Lombard Finance is "permitted to disclose your credit information to CRBs" for a number of purposes outlined in its Privacy Policy. |
*From Afterpay's Terms of Service
**From Openpay's Terms of Service
***From Certegy's Terms of Use
~Confirmed with zipMoney and zipPay's customer service team
****From zipPay's Terms of Use
*****From Lombard Finance's Privacy Policy
Watch: Afterpay vs. Credit cards: Which is better?
Before you apply for any of the "new ways to pay", make sure you consider whether you can afford the repayments and the effect it may have on your credit score.

Picture: Shutterstock
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