Clearpay splits a purchase into four equal instalments. The first is taken at checkout and the remaining three follow at roughly fortnightly intervals, so a single purchase produces four charges spread over about six weeks.

The fortnightly rhythm is what makes these hard to track. Unlike a monthly subscription, the dates drift across the calendar, and three separate Clearpay purchases produce an overlapping pattern of charges that is very difficult to match to anything by eye.

Matching a charge to a purchase

Use the amount. Each instalment is a quarter of the order total, so a charge of £12.75 indicates an order of about £51. Working backwards from the instalment to the order value is usually faster than scrolling through purchase history.

Late fees

Clearpay charges fees for missed payments, capped as a proportion of the order value. A failed instalment is most often caused by an expired card or insufficient funds rather than a deliberate decision, and the fastest fix is to update the payment method in the app and pay manually rather than waiting for an automatic retry.

Returns do not automatically stop instalments

Returning an item begins a refund that has to travel from the retailer back through Clearpay. Until it does, the remaining instalments continue to be collected. People frequently return something, assume the payments will stop, and find two more taken.

Report the return in the Clearpay app as well as with the retailer, and keep the proof of postage.

Credit reporting

Buy now pay later is more closely supervised than it once was, and providers report account information to UK credit reference agencies. Missed instalments can appear on your credit file and affect later applications. Treating a Clearpay instalment as a low-priority payment is a mistake.

Finding what you owe

  1. Open the Clearpay app and review the orders section, which lists every open order with remaining instalments and dates.
  2. Total the upcoming instalments across all open orders to see your real short-term commitment.
  3. Pay off an order early if you would rather clear it, which is permitted at any time.
  4. If a charge has no matching order, report it immediately, since BNPL accounts are targeted for takeover precisely because they allow purchases without upfront payment.