Checking your PayTomorrow options uses a soft inquiry — this does NOT hurt your credit score. A hard inquiry only occurs when you formally accept a specific lender's offer.
When you apply through a PayTomorrow merchant checkout, the initial check is a soft inquiry. Soft pulls do not appear on your credit report and do not affect your FICO score. You can check your options as many times as needed without any credit score impact.
When you accept a specific lender's offer, that lender performs a hard inquiry. This typically lowers your score by 5–10 points temporarily, and appears on your credit report for 2 years (though it only affects your score for 12 months).
If your lender reports to credit bureaus (most installment lenders do; some LTO providers don't), on-time payments positively impact your payment history — the most important factor (35%) in your FICO score. Multiple PayTomorrow users report meaningful credit score improvements after 6–12 months of on-time payments.
Payments 30+ days late are reported to credit bureaus if your lender reports. Late payments can significantly lower your score. Set up auto-pay immediately after your loan funds to eliminate this risk.
PayTomorrow uses two types of credit inquiries at different stages of the financing process, and understanding the difference is important for borrowers who are managing their credit carefully.
Soft inquiry (pre-qualification): When you submit your PayTomorrow application, the platform performs a soft credit pull to assess your general credit profile and determine which lender tiers to route your application to. A soft inquiry does NOT appear on your credit report as a formal inquiry and has no impact on your credit score. You can check your own credit or allow soft pulls from multiple lenders without any score impact.
Hard inquiry (offer acceptance): When you formally accept a loan offer from a specific lender in the PayTomorrow network, that lender may perform a hard credit inquiry. A hard inquiry appears on your credit report and can reduce your score by 5–10 points. It remains on your report for 2 years, though the score impact typically fades after 12 months.
This depends on which lender in the PayTomorrow network extends your loan. Some lenders in the waterfall report payment history to credit bureaus; others — particularly lease-to-own providers — do not. Ask your lender directly whether they report to Equifax, Experian, and/or TransUnion before accepting an offer if credit building is a priority.
If the lender does report, making consistent on-time payments adds positive payment history to your credit file — the most heavily weighted factor in FICO scoring. For subprime borrowers with thin files, a successfully repaid installment loan can meaningfully improve their credit score over a 12–24 month period.
There is no published minimum credit score to apply for financing through PayTomorrow. The lease-to-own tier in their lender waterfall has near-universal approval regardless of credit score, as long as identity and income can be verified. However, your credit score determines what product type and APR range you are offered. See our detailed credit types guide for tier-by-tier breakdown.