Does Affirm check credit? Its own pages, read

Yes, but softly at the start. Affirm’s own FAQ says creating an account or checking your eligibility, including your purchasing power, is a soft inquiry that “does not affect your credit”. What can move a score is buying: the purchase, your payment history, credit used and length of history. Every plan started since 1 April 2025 is reported to Experian.

That answer to “does Affirm check credit” is Affirm’s, not ours. This desk read three Affirm documents on 15 October 2026: the credit reporting policy in its help centre, the shopper FAQ on its Business Hub, and its 19 March 2025 announcement of the Experian change. The question is evergreen: the reporting rules changed in spring 2025, and the policy page still describes them in the present tense.

Does Affirm check credit when you sign up?

It runs a soft one, by its own description. The Business Hub FAQ answers “Will Affirm affect my credit?” like this: creating an account or checking eligibility “is considered a soft inquiry, which may be reported to the credit bureaus but does not affect your credit”. The Business Hub is Affirm’s merchant-facing site, and the page says merchants should put these answers somewhere visible on their own sites, so it is the wording Affirm wants shoppers to see.

Note the middle clause: reported is not scored, a difference Affirm leans on more than once.

Does Affirm do a hard credit check?

The scoped absence first: none of the Affirm pages read for this piece on 15 October 2026 mentions a hard inquiry. That is not a promise that one never happens. Affirm’s loan-application page, which is where approval criteria would be spelt out, returned only a loading shell to this desk, so its wording is not used here.

The pages ranking for this question fill the gap with hedges. One credit-repair site says some larger loans may involve a hard check, and an Australian explainer says Affirm “generally” runs a soft one. Neither quotes an Affirm page in the text read here. Until Affirm says so in writing, treat the hard-check claim as unconfirmed.

What Affirm checks, and what it reports

Two Affirm pages, one table.

The row the forum threads miss is the fourth. Before April 2025, the credit reporting policy says Affirm reported only some plans, usually the first monthly one; now every plan goes to Experian, with on-time, late and missed payments alike. The March 2025 announcement framed it as extending reporting to “all of Affirm’s pay-over-time products beginning April 1, 2025”. Our assessment of pay-in-four as a credit product explains why that was always the honest description.

Will buying with Affirm affect your credit score?

It can, and Affirm says so. The policy page’s own list of what may affect your credit names all pay-over-time plans starting on or after 1 April 2025, monthly plans that started before then, and your payment history. The softer news is the timetable: the new reporting “may in the future” count “as new credit scoring models are developed”, but not in the near term. “Near term” is undefined, which is the industry’s favourite length of time.

Affirm beside Sezzle

This site read Sezzle’s pages the same way in September. Sezzle says it “may run a soft credit check” to set spending power, and a hard check “may be performed depending on the lender” only on long-term financing; our reading of Sezzle’s credit-check pages has the detail. The bigger difference is reporting. Sezzle reports when you opt in through Sezzle Up or a long-term order, as our assessment of what Sezzle reports sets out. Affirm’s policy page describes no opt-in: all plans since 1 April 2025 go to Experian.

Questions searchers ask

Does Affirm show up on credit checks?

The eligibility check is a soft inquiry which, Affirm’s FAQ says, may be reported to the bureaus but does not affect your credit. The plans themselves are another matter: Affirm’s policy page says plans started on or after 1 April 2025 are reported to Experian, and those from 1 May 2025 to TransUnion as well, though not immediately visible to lenders.

Does Affirm do a hard credit check?

None of the Affirm pages read for this piece on 15 October 2026 mentions a hard inquiry; the only check they name is the soft one at account creation and eligibility. A credit-repair site ranking for this question says larger loans may involve one, but it cites no Affirm page in the text read here, so treat that as unconfirmed rather than as Affirm’s word.

Will buying with Affirm affect my credit score?

It can. Affirm’s FAQ lists making a purchase, your payment history, how much credit you’ve used and how long you’ve had credit as things that may affect your score. Its policy page adds that the newer plan reporting won’t be factored into traditional scores in the near term, which is a timetable, not a promise.

The fine print, as usual

A soft inquiry that sets your purchasing power is still underwriting, and a plan reported to two bureaus is still credit, whatever the checkout button calls it. Affirm’s pages describe what it reports today; your loan agreement describes what you owe. None of this is financial advice. A missed payment can mean an entry on your credit file, so read the agreement before you tap.