Does Clearpay report to credit reference agencies in the UK?
Clearpay's terms, re-issued 15 July 2026, say it may report missed payments to credit reference agencies. What its own pages say, read 11 September 2026.
Yes, it may. Clearpay’s Terms of Service, re-issued 15 July 2026, say it may “make reports to Credit Reference Agencies” after a missed payment, and both of its help-centre pages say missed payments “may be reported”. On-time payments, its help centre says, will not affect your credit score. None of those pages says which agency, or after how many days.
That is the whole answer to “does Clearpay report to credit reference agencies in the UK?”, and it is firmer than the blogs ranking for the question give. This desk read Clearpay’s Terms of Service, its Privacy Policy and its two help-centre pages on 11 September 2026. Here is what they say, where they contradict each other, and what they leave out.
What Clearpay’s 15 July 2026 terms say about credit reference agencies
The Terms of Service carry the line “Last Updated: 15 July 2026”, with a link to the previous terms described as “effective until 14 July 2026”. That is Regulation Day, the date the FCA began regulating deferred payment credit, covered here in what actually changed on 15 July 2026. We have not read the previous terms, so we claim only that the terms in force were issued that day, not that the reporting wording changed.
The relevant sentence sits in section 1, under “Important to know”: missed payments may affect your ability to use Clearpay in future, and the firm “may pass unpaid debt to our debt collection agency and make reports to Credit Reference Agencies which may make it more difficult or expensive for you to borrow credit in the future”. The terms point the reader to “your Clearpay Plan Agreement” for more; we have not read one and cannot say what it adds. The same section calls instalment purchases “a form of interest free credit” and names the company as Clearpay Finance Limited, company number 05198026.
Does Clearpay do a credit check, and is it visible?
The help page Does Clearpay perform credit checks? says new customers get a soft credit check to set a starting spend limit, and that Clearpay carries out “regular assessments for all customers of their affordability”, which may include further soft checks. It says the firm may decline, restrict or close an account where “we identify adverse information from your credit report”.
Its answer to “Will Clearpay be sharing my information with credit reference agencies (CRA)?” is the same as the terms: “Missed payments may be reported to Credit Reference Agencies (CRAs).” It adds that Clearpay “may also share your personal information with Credit Reference Agencies to help us make lending decisions”.
Here is the first discrepancy. That page says a soft check “is not visible to other lenders” and that assessment checks “are only visible to you”. The other help page, “Will using Clearpay impact my credit score?”, says Clearpay carries out “a soft credit check which is visible to other lenders and has no impact to your credit score”. Both pages are undated and both were live on 11 September 2026; they disagree on visibility and agree the check does not affect the score.
The Privacy Policy, effective 30 September 2025, names one agency: “Credit reference agencies, such as TransUnion”, to which Clearpay provides information “to conduct a soft credit check”. It also lists “Collection agencies if you fail to make payment when due”. In the sections we read, Experian and Equifax are not named.
What the ranking blogs get wrong
Wollit’s article, marked updated 29 June 2024 and read by this desk on 11 September 2026, states that Clearpay “does not share your data with any of the leading credit reference agencies (Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion)” and that Clearpay “doesn’t check if you can afford it”. Both statements are contradicted by the firm’s current terms, help centre and privacy policy. The search research for this piece found Creditspring (May 2024) hedging with “may” and Skint Dad (December 2025) saying both that Clearpay could report and that it does not share. None of the three, as read in that research, quotes a Clearpay page.
What Clearpay’s pages do not say
Scoped to the four pages read on 11 September 2026: none states which credit reference agency receives a missed-payment report, none gives a number of days after which a missed payment is reported, and none says whether on-time payments are reported at all. The help centre’s “won’t impact your credit score” is consistent with on-time payments not being reported, but no page says so in terms.
There is a second discrepancy, on fees. The Terms of Service say “We will not charge late fees for orders under £24.” The footer on both help pages says late fees are “capped at £6 for orders under £24”. We report both wordings; we do not pick one.
Is Clearpay regulated by the FCA?
The FCA’s page Regulating Buy Now Pay Later, last updated 15 July 2026 and read on 11 September 2026, lists “Clearpay (Clearpay Finance Ltd)” on its register of lenders with temporary permission, with a change note dated 29 May 2026 recording the addition. Registration for the regime has closed, the page says, and agreements entered before regulation day remain exempt. Clearpay’s own terms and footer say the firm is “deemed authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority for the purposes of the Temporary Permission regime for Regulated Deferred Payment Credit”, and describe that regime as one that allows firms to carry on “while seeking full authorisation”. That is a temporary permission, not full authorisation, and the difference is not visible in the way most consumers check. A plan taken out under it does now have a regulated complaint route.
Reader questions
Does Clearpay affect your credit score?
Clearpay’s help centre says that using it responsibly and paying on time ‘won’t impact your credit score’, while missed payments ‘may be reported to Credit Reference Agencies’. Its Terms of Service add that a report ‘may make it more difficult or expensive for you to borrow credit in the future’. So on-time use is not reported as a positive; a missed payment can be reported as a negative.
Does Clearpay do a credit check?
Yes, a soft one. The help page ‘Does Clearpay perform credit checks?’ says new customers get a soft credit check that guides the starting spend limit, and that all customers face ‘regular assessments’ of affordability which may include further soft checks. Clearpay’s Privacy Policy names TransUnion as an example of the agency it uses for that soft check. No page read describes a hard check.
What happens if you miss a Clearpay payment?
Clearpay’s Terms of Service, last updated 15 July 2026, set a £6 late fee per late instalment and, for orders over £24, a further £6 if the instalment is still unpaid seven days later, capped at the lower of £24 or 25% of the order. Unpaid debt may be passed to a debt collection agency and reported to credit reference agencies, and future access to Clearpay may be affected.
Does Clearpay report to Experian?
None of the four Clearpay pages this desk read on 11 September 2026 names the agency that receives missed-payment reports. The only credit reference agency named is TransUnion, in the Privacy Policy, and only as the example agency for the soft credit check. Experian and Equifax did not appear in the sections read. The pages say reports ‘may’ be made; they do not say to whom.
Can Clearpay affect a mortgage application?
None of the four Clearpay pages this desk read on 11 September 2026 mentions mortgages. What they do say is that a missed payment may be reported to credit reference agencies and that a report ‘may make it more difficult or expensive for you to borrow credit in the future’. A mortgage lender that checks your credit file could see such a report. On-time use, the help centre says, ‘won’t impact your credit score’.
What a consumer can actually do
Read the Plan Agreement shown at checkout, since the terms point there for more on reporting. If a missed payment appears on your file, the help centre points you to TransUnion for a free copy of your report every 90 days.
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