BNPL may damage your credit rating, but not SPT?, page-7

A credit rating is a mythical beast - a misnomer, due to commercial secrecy and the Privacy Act, among other things. It is taken as read that your credit history is good, unless there are bad things listed on your credit file. A credit score is a new thing and a different beast. Credit providers are required to report all credit activities - the date an account was opened, the nature and amount of credit approved, then on a monthly basis whether payments were on time or late (using a traffic light system). A series of logarithms assigns points to a credit score which is predicated on activity (is: applications) as payments (obviously late payments are bad). The higher the score, technically the more creditworthy you are, but in reality a low score rings alarm bells and leaves the person unable to access reasonably priced credit. BNPL activity impacts a credit score, but can also render a person unable to access a loan if unable to meet repayment affordability requirements.