Does buy now, pay later affect your AECB credit score?

Buy now, pay later (BNPL) plans from Tabby, Tamara and similar apps do not affect your credit score under the current model: the Etihad Credit Bureau (AECB) says BNPL reporting does not change the score. Your contracts, balances, status and remaining instalments can still appear on your credit report, where lenders can see them, and providers under the Central Bank’s Short-Term Credit rules must check your report from AED 5,000.

Key takeaways

• Under the Etihad Credit Bureau's current score model, buy now, pay later reporting does not affect your credit score.
• Your BNPL contracts, outstanding balances, contract status and remaining instalments can still appear on your credit report.
• Banks and other organisations that review your report can take your BNPL plans into account when they decide on an application.
• Providers covered by the Central Bank's Short-Term Credit rules must review your credit report before extending credit of AED 5,000 or more.
• A wrong BNPL entry can be corrected free of charge for a report you bought in the last 30 days.

This guide covers what BNPL does to your credit file. How BNPL plans work and the Central Bank’s limits on them are explained in how buy now, pay later works, and the rest of the topic is in our Buy now, pay later guides.

The short answer: on your report, not in your score

BNPL shows on your credit report but does not feed into your credit score. The bureau’s FAQ says that under the current Credit Score model, BNPL reporting does not affect your score, but the information still appears on your report and may be considered by organisations that review it when they make decisions.

Buy now, pay later and your score

Not in score

Under the current credit score model, buy now, pay later (BNPL) reporting does not affect the credit score, but BNPL contracts appear on the credit report and may be considered by lenders who review it.

The words “current model” matter. The bureau’s current individual score is Credit Score 3i, and the answer describes how that model works, not a permanent rule. This guide reflects the bureau’s FAQ as we checked it on 13 October 2026. For what the score numbers mean, see what a good AECB score is.

What BNPL information appears on your report

Four BNPL details may appear on your credit report: how many contracts you have, active and closed, the outstanding balance, the status of each contract and the remaining instalments.

Providers are required to report. The Central Bank regulates BNPL as Short-Term Credit, and the restricted-licence finance companies and agents that offer it must provide borrowers’ credit information to the credit bureau, on the bureau’s terms. The bureau says the provider updates BNPL information frequently, without giving a fixed schedule.

Alongside the BNPL details, the report covers the last 36 months of payment history on each active or closed credit facility and service, plus any returned cheques.

Why lenders still care

Because lenders read the report, not only the score. A bank deciding on a card or loan application can see your BNPL contracts and what you still owe on them, even though those entries do not change the number.

The bureau does not approve or reject applications itself. It says banks, finance companies and other organisations use the report to make their own decisions, and that lenders decide under their own policies and may consider the score together with other information.

How a lender weighs your BNPL lines is a matter of its own credit policy, so ask it how it treats BNPL plans when it assesses what you can afford.

Worked example

Three BNPL plans with three different apps

The purchases, plan lengths and payments are illustrations. Each plan is split into 4 equal instalments, and all three providers report to the bureau.

1. Plan A: AED 1,200 ÷ 4 = AED 300 per instalment. One paid, three left: 3 × AED 300 = AED 900 outstanding.
2. Plan B: AED 800 ÷ 4 = AED 200 per instalment. Two paid, two left: 2 × AED 200 = AED 400 outstanding.
3. Plan C: AED 2,000 ÷ 4 = AED 500 per instalment. One paid, three left: 3 × AED 500 = AED 1,500 outstanding.
4. Total outstanding: AED 900 + AED 400 + AED 1,500 = AED 2,800.
5. Instalments left: 3 + 2 + 3 = 8.
6. Credit check: each plan is below AED 5,000 and is the only plan with that app, so the rule did not require any of the three providers to review the report first. Each still had to assess affordability.

The report can show three active BNPL contracts with AED 2,800 outstanding and 8 instalments left. The score does not move because of them under the current model, but a lender reading the report can see the AED 2,800.

When a BNPL app checks your credit

Providers covered by the Central Bank’s Short-Term Credit rules must review your credit report, with your consent, before extending credit of AED 5,000 or more. Below that amount the rule does not require a report check, but the provider must still assess whether you can afford to repay.

Credit report check before BNPL credit

AED 5,000+

Before extending Short-Term Credit of AED 5,000 or more, the provider must check the borrower's credit report, and it must report borrower credit information to the credit bureau.

Article 24 of the Finance Companies Regulation sets out when the review happens:

So the answer to “does Tabby check your credit score?” is the same for every provider covered by these rules: it depends on the amount. The same article also requires that:

• the provider accesses your credit report only with your express consent;
• it tells you that your information will be retrieved from (where applicable) and shared with the bureau, and explains what borrowing, late payment and default mean for your credit report;
• it does not give you a credit limit that its affordability assessment shows you cannot afford.

The total Short-Term Credit one such provider can extend to you at any time is also capped.

Most one provider can lend you

AED 20,000

The total Short-Term Credit a restricted-licence finance company or agent extends to one borrower at any time must not exceed AED 20,000 or three months' verified net income, whichever is lower.

Whether an app also checks your report for smaller amounts is its own policy. If the credit comes from a full-licence finance company instead, Article 17 of the same regulation requires it to request your credit information before extending credit to you, whatever the amount.

Missed BNPL payments and your report

The status of each BNPL contract is one of the details on your report, and lenders who review the report can see it. Under the current model it does not change the score, and providers covered by the Short-Term Credit rules must explain to you what late payment and default mean for your credit report.

The bureau’s general rule is that defaults, missed payments and bounced cheques stay on a credit report for up to 5 years, even after the amount is settled. Its BNPL answers do not set a different period.

How long negative records stay

Up to 5 years

Defaults, missed payments and bounced cheques stay on the credit report for up to 5 years, even after the amount is settled.

Late fees have a ceiling. For providers covered by the Short-Term Credit rules, all fees, including late payment fees, are capped at 30% of the original amount. On an AED 1,200 plan that is at most 30% × AED 1,200 = AED 360 in fees, so no more than AED 1,560 in total.

Cap on BNPL fees, late fees included

30%

Total fees on a Short-Term Credit, including late payment fees, must not exceed 30% of the original amount, so a borrower never repays more than 130% of the credit, even if it is restructured or rolled over.

Collection and legal steps after a missed BNPL payment are beyond this guide: see what happens if you miss a BNPL payment. For loans and credit cards, see what happens after missed payments.

News reports and what the bureau confirms

The bureau’s website confirms that BNPL information can appear on your credit report and does not affect your score under the current model. Its FAQ does not name providers or give a start date.

In July 2026, UAE newspapers reported that the bureau had announced that account information from Tabby and Tamara was being added to credit reports from that month, including relevant historical transactions. We could not find that announcement on the bureau’s website when we checked on 13 October 2026, so this guide relies on the bureau’s FAQ, not on the press reports. Your own report is the reliable record of what has been reported about you.

How to check your BNPL entries and fix errors

Buy your credit report from the bureau, compare each BNPL contract with the app, and ask for a correction if something is wrong. Correction is free for a report bought in the last 30 days.

1. Buy the full report, which costs AED 84 including VAT and includes your score, in the Etihad Credit Bureau app, or in DubaiNow or TAMM with UAE PASS. The steps are in how to check your AECB report.
2. Check every BNPL contract against the app: the number of plans, the balance, the status and the instalments left. Look for plans you closed that still show as active, and plans you do not recognise.
3. Submit a data correction request through the Etihad Credit Bureau app with your supporting documents, such as payment confirmations. The bureau accepts one request per contract at a time.
4. Wait for the provider’s review. The bureau says BNPL correction requests are typically reviewed within 7 to 10 working days.
5. If the provider rejects the correction, call 800-BUREAU (800-287328) to register a data correction dispute. The bureau accepts a dispute only after a rejection.

Correcting your report

Free

Data correction is free for any credit report bought in the last 30 days; the bureau passes the request to the information provider, and the report should be updated within 10 working days.

The bureau does not change the data itself: it passes your request to the provider that reported it. Reading the rest of the report line by line is covered in how to read your AECB credit report; taking a rejected correction further is a topic of its own.