Does Klarna affect your credit score? What changed in 2026

Since 15 July 2026, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has regulated interest-free buy now, pay later lending in the UK, including new Klarna Pay in 3 and Pay in 30 days plans. The FCA says 10.9 million UK adults (20% of UK consumers) used this kind of credit in the 12 months to May 2024. Klarna now keeps two sets of terms, one for plans taken out before what it calls regulation day and one for plans taken out after. Our Scams and traps topic covers buy now, pay later alongside payday loans.

What the FCA rules changed on 15 July 2026

The rules cover what the law calls deferred payment credit: interest-free plans where the lender and the seller are different businesses. A Klarna plan fits, because Klarna lends and the shop sells. For a plan taken out on or after 15 July 2026, the FCA’s consumer page and its February 2026 announcement list these changes, and Klarna’s regulated terms fill in some of the detail:

• The lender has to check that you can afford the repayments before you take out the agreement. The FCA calls these “proportionate checks”.
• Before you agree, you’re told how much you’re borrowing, when each repayment is due, how much each one is, how much any late fee will be, and what rights you have.
• If you miss a repayment, the lender has to contact you and explain what that means. If you’re struggling, it has to offer support and, where appropriate, point you to free debt advice.
• You complain to the lender first. If you’re unhappy with its answer, you can take the complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
• If something goes wrong with what you bought, you may be able to get a refund from the lender under section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, which the FCA calls “the same protection you’d have if you used a credit card to pay instead”. Klarna’s regulated terms apply it to purchases of more than £100 and no more than £30,000.
• You can withdraw from a regulated Klarna Pay in 3 agreement within 14 days, counting from the day after you enter it; you then pay straight away for anything you keep.
• The lender needs FCA permission to lend. Klarna’s pages give Klarna Financial Services UK Limited’s firm reference number as 987889, which you can look up on the FCA Firm Checker. Some lenders appear on the FCA’s temporary permission register while they apply for full authorisation.

What Klarna’s credit check does to your score

Klarna runs a soft credit check when you use Pay in 3 or Pay in 30 days, when you apply for Financing, and when you apply for its card. In Klarna’s words, “soft credit checks do not affect your credit score and will not be visible to other lenders”. There’s no check at all when you sign up or download the app.

A hard search works differently. Equifax says every hard search appears on your credit report, and a company can’t run one on you without your permission. A Klarna checkout uses the soft kind, so the check itself is invisible to other lenders.

What Klarna reports, and what other lenders see

The check is one part; the plan itself is the other. Klarna’s checks go through TransUnion, Experian and Equifax, and its help page says: “As a regulated lender, we’re legally required to report Pay in 3 and Pay in 30 days payment data to these agencies.” Its July 2026 terms add that it may report “late or missed payments” to them.

Klarna’s help page also says what that data shows to another lender:

What happens on a Klarna plan	What another lender can see on your credit file
Klarna’s eligibility check	Nothing (soft checks aren’t visible to other lenders)
A plan you’re still paying off	The existing balance
A late or unpaid payment	The late or unpaid balance
A payment holiday	The payment holiday
Paying on time, each time	A record that Klarna says “will help build a positive history”

We couldn’t confirm how much any of this moves a score. Each agency calculates its own, and Experian’s page on its 0 to 1,250 score names rent, overdrafts and mortgage overpayments as data it has started to use, with nothing on buy now, pay later. We found no current statement from Experian, Equifax or TransUnion on how they score these plans, so we haven’t guessed.

What a missed Klarna payment costs

Pay in 3 charges no interest. If a payment fails, Klarna’s Pay in 3 terms (version 1.0.1, published 14 July 2026) say it will try again up to two times over the next 14 days, then add the missed amount to the following month’s payment. Its Pay in 3 page says it sends reminders by text, push notification and email before any fee.

If the money still hasn’t arrived 14 days after the due date, Klarna may charge a late fee of 25% of the order total, up to £6. It charges no more than two late fees per agreement, and none if you owe less than £1.

The Pay in 30 days terms use the same fee and the same two-fee limit. The difference is timing: the fee can be charged 7 days after the due date, not 14.

The £6 cap means the fees weigh most on small orders. From £24 up, each fee is the full £6, so the most you can be charged in late fees on one agreement is £12, whatever the order cost. Below £24, each fee is a quarter of the order.

• £20 order£10, 50% of the order
• £40 order£12, 30%
• £120 order£12, 10%
• £600 order£12, 2%

Two late fees are the most Klarna's terms allow on one agreement. Each fee is 25% of the order total, capped at £6, under the regulated Pay in 3 and Pay in 30 days terms published 14 July 2026. Our arithmetic. Source: Klarna Pay in 3 agreement, version 1.0.1.

If payments stay unpaid, Klarna may end the agreement with 14 days’ notice and pass the debt to a regulated debt collection agency. Its terms say it will contact you before it does that and try to sort things out first.

A late payment can also go on your credit file. According to Experian, a late payment recorded on your report stays there for six years, though its effect on your score fades as it gets older.

If you’re struggling to pay, the FCA’s rules require the lender to offer support. Klarna’s terms ask you to contact it “as soon as you can” and name three free debt advice services: MoneyHelper, StepChange and National Debtline.

Klarna’s Financing is a different product. It’s a loan that charges interest, at a representative 21.9% APR (fixed), and Klarna’s example is £1,200 over 12 months, repaid as £1,333.70 in total, which is £133.70 of interest. Our guide to APR, APY and AER explains what an APR measures.

Klarna and a mortgage application

Klarna’s help page says mortgage lenders may include your monthly buy now, pay later payments as part of their affordability checks. Experian’s mortgage guide says lenders look at your income, spending, debts, deposit and credit report, and that they can see if you’ve missed payments in the past.

A mortgage lender won’t see Klarna’s soft checks. It will see any plan you’re still paying when it checks your file, and any late payment recorded in the last six years. Experian also suggests not applying for credit in the six months before a mortgage application, because “too many of these can make it look like you’re overly reliant on credit”. The mortgage application itself is a hard search, which Experian says can have a small and temporary effect on your score.

None of the pages we read puts a number on how much buy now, pay later counts against a mortgage application.

Scroll is education, not advice. Our lessons and calculators explain how money works in general. They don’t know your circumstances, so they can’t tell you what to do with yours. For that, speak to a qualified, regulated adviser in your country.

Drafted with AI assistance. Every figure was checked against the sources listed, on 14 October 2026.