Many people turn to Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) providers like Sezzle for flexible payment options and interest-free plans. A 2024 FICO study found that 74% of Americans believe their financial situation would improve if they had better access to personal finance resources.
If you’re trying to lift your credit score, you might be wondering: Does Sezzle build credit? The short answer is that Sezzle can, in fact, affect your credit score—positively or negatively—depending on your payment behavior.
With new developments in credit reporting (FICO will begin including BNPL loans in its scoring models in 2025), your use of Sezzle payments could soon carry even more weight. Still, experts caution that Sezzle should not be your primary credit-building strategy. I’ve used Sezzle and done the research; here’s what you need to know.
Key Takeaways
- Sezzle Can Report to Credit Bureaus: If you opt in to Sezzle Up, your Sezzle account activity is reported to credit agencies and can help build your credit profile.
- On-Time Payments Help, Late Payments Hurt: Like with personal loans or credit cards, on-time payments strengthen your credit history, but missed payments and adverse reporting can negatively affect your score.
- Sezzle Uses a Soft Credit Check: When opening a Sezzle account, the company performs a soft credit pull instead of a hard inquiry, so applying won’t hurt your credit.
- BNPL Reporting Is Expanding: FICO’s new scoring models will include Sezzle and other BNPLs like Klarna and Affirm, so your repayment schedule and payment plan will factor into your credit impact.
- Credit Building Requires More Than BNPL: Although Sezzle offers some reporting benefits, you shouldn’t rely on it alone. Traditional tools, such as credit cards and personal loans, as well as a solid payment history, also matter.
How Sezzle Impacts Credit: Summary Chart
| Situation | Credit Impact | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Sezzle Up with on-time payments | Positive credit history | Payment history reported to bureaus |
| Sezzle Up with missed payments | Negatively affect your credit profile | May lead to collection agency action |
| Using Sezzle without Sezzle Up | No credit impact (for now) | Payments not reported |
| New BNPL reporting (FICO 2025 models) | Affects your credit score | Sezzle loan data included in the score |
| Relying only on Sezzle for credit building | Limited benefits | Better to combine with personal finance tools |
How Sezzle Affects Your Credit
By default, Sezzle’s four interest-free payments don’t appear on your credit report. That can be good news if you’re just testing the service, since it won’t immediately influence your credit profile.
However, Sezzle also offers Sezzle Up, an opt-in program that lets your payment history be reported to the major credit bureaus. This can be especially valuable for people with limited credit experience. For example, a college student who has never had a credit card might use Sezzle Up to establish a record of responsible payments.
Here’s how that plays out.
Where Sezzle Up May Help
- Adds visible payment history to your credit report.
- Supports borrowers with “thin files” who need more accounts to demonstrate reliability.
- On-time payments can strengthen your credit history and open doors to future credit products.
Where Sezzle Up May Hurt
- Missed payments are also reported, which can lower your score.
- Even one or two late installments could make a noticeable difference in your profile.
- Reporting is a double-edged sword as positive behavior is rewarded, but negative behavior doesn’t go unnoticed.
Think of Sezzle Up as a way to fill in the gaps of your credit history. It can give new borrowers a leg up, but it also raises the stakes.
The Risk of Missed Payments
Every Sezzle loan comes with a payment schedule tied to your default payment method (usually your bank account or debit card). If there aren’t sufficient funds when Sezzle tries to collect, you may face late fees.
Here’s where it gets serious: if you’re enrolled in Sezzle Up, your repayment activity isn’t just between you and Sezzle anymore—it gets sent to the credit bureaus. That means even small mistakes can have real consequences for your credit profile.
- Late Payments Add Up Fast: Just one or two missed installments can show up as negative marks and lower your score.
- Outstanding Balances Matter: If you let a balance linger, Sezzle may escalate the account and eventually involve a collections agency.
- Score Drops Are Steep: Once a debt is sent to collections, your credit score can fall by dozens of points, undoing months or even years of positive history.
For instance, imagine you use Sezzle for a $400 furniture BNPL purchase and miss your second payment. Without Sezzle Up, it’s an internal issue with a late fee. With Sezzle Up, that same misstep could show up as a negative reporting item, dragging down your credit profile.
Another risk is overspending. Because Sezzle allows multiple installment plans at once, it’s easy for users to take on more debt than they realize—what experts call “phantom debt.” A single loan may not seem significant, but juggling three or four active BNPL plans can quickly add up.
Soft Credit Check at Sign-Up
When you download the Sezzle app and open a Sezzle account, the company performs only a soft credit pull. This is different from a hard inquiry you’d see with a credit card or personal loan, and it means your score won’t take a hit just for signing up. That’s one reason BNPL providers like Sezzle have become so appealing.
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
- No Score Impact: A soft pull does not lower your credit score.
- Easier Approval: You can qualify for a payment plan without showing a long or established credit history.
- Accessible for Many: This opens the door for younger shoppers or those rebuilding their credit to use Sezzle when they may not qualify for traditional credit cards.
However, accessibility comes with responsibility. Consumers who are new to credit may not fully realize that opting into Sezzle Up changes the equation; missed payments or an outstanding balance could still damage your score once they’re reported.
Upcoming Credit Reporting Changes
Until recently, buy now, pay later services were considered “ghost debt” because they weren’t visible to lenders. That’s now changing. By late 2025, FICO will launch its new Score 10 BNPL and Score 10T BNPL models, which will include data from providers like Sezzle, Klarna, and Affirm.
These new models aren’t just a quick add-on—they’re designed specifically for BNPL behavior. Unlike a mortgage or personal loan, BNPL accounts are:
- Opened and closed frequently (sometimes every few weeks).
- Structured more like a revolving short-term credit line than a traditional loan.
If FICO treated each BNPL account like a separate loan, consumers would be unfairly penalized. To solve this, the new models aggregate BNPL data, grouping accounts together rather than scoring each one individually. This helps create a fairer picture of repayment behavior.
What These Changes Mean for Consumers
Even though FICO is rolling out these BNPL-ready scores in 2025, adoption won’t be immediate. Many lenders still rely on older models like FICO 8, or even FICO 2, 4, and 5 for mortgages. Think of it like smartphone software. Just because iPhone 16 is available doesn’t mean everyone has stopped using iPhone 8. Some lenders will move quickly, but others could take years.
Here’s the practical takeaway:
- Your Sezzle payments and repayment schedule could eventually affect your credit score, even if you don’t opt in to Sezzle Up.
- Timely payments could help shoppers with little credit history qualify for bigger financial products.
- Missed payments or juggling multiple BNPL accounts could just as easily hurt your score once reporting becomes universal.
This new layer of reporting is a lifeline for some but a liability for others—it all comes down to payment behavior.
Why It’s Not a Primary Credit-Building Tool
Even with these changes, Sezzle and other buy now, pay later providers shouldn’t be your main strategy for credit building. Traditional credit accounts, like personal loans, credit cards, or auto loans, carry much more weight in your overall score. A strong credit profile depends on a mix of accounts, a long payment history, and consistent, timely payments across a variety of purchases.
If you’re serious about improving your score, Sezzle can complement your strategy, but it won’t replace more reliable tools. Think of it this way: Sezzle is a helpful payment option for spreading out the purchase price of goods interest-free, but it’s not designed to replace a credit card or long-term loan.
Benefits of Using Sezzle Responsibly
Using Sezzle in a thoughtful way can still support your overall financial health:
- Interest-Free Plan: Breaks up the total cost of a purchase into manageable chunks without interest rates.
- Automatic Payments: Reduce the risk of forgetting your first payment or later installments in your repayment schedule.
- Flexible Payment Options: Give you breathing room when budgeting for larger purchase prices.
- Credit-Building Potential: Through Sezzle Up, you can report your payment history to the major credit bureaus, turning Sezzle into a stepping stone for consumers with thin credit files.
- Accessibility: Since Sezzle performs only a soft credit check, it’s available to people who might not qualify for traditional loans.
Final Thoughts
So, does Sezzle build credit? It can—but only if used wisely. With the Sezzle Up program and upcoming BNPL credit reporting rules, your Sezzle payments will soon matter more than ever. When you pay Sezzle on time, it can help fill in gaps in your credit history, but late payments, missed payments, or reliance on BNPL alone can negatively affect your credit score.
It’s also important to recognize that Sezzle is only one piece of a much bigger financial picture. Credit reporting changes are coming, but adoption will be slow and uneven. Some lenders will factor in BNPL right away, while others may not for years. In the meantime, building lasting financial health still requires consistent use of multiple products—like personal loans, credit cards, and longer payment plans, all backed by a record of timely payments.
FAQs
No, Sezzle does not report your regular Pay in 4 activity to the credit bureaus unless you opt into Sezzle Up, but this could change as BNPL data may begin affecting scores under new FICO models.
Yes, on-time payments through Sezzle Up can help establish a positive credit history, but it’s not as strong as credit cards or personal loans.
Yes. Missed payments and late payments can lead to negative reporting and even collections agency involvement.
Sezzle performs a soft credit check, which won’t hurt your score.
Use it as a flexible payment option to manage the purchase price in smaller installments, but don’t rely on it as your main credit-building tool.
