Credit
Clear lends without a credit check. You have two separate credit lines, and they are never added together:
Both open once your identity is verified. See Getting started.
Your credit line
Your credit line is made of tiers, each backed by something different. Your limit is the sum of the tiers you have.
Savings and Assets are secured: what you draw on them is already covered by what you hold. Income and Boost are unsecured: nothing stands behind them but your next deposit.
Each tier except Savings carries a charge per cycle, called carry. The Credit card on Home shows each tier's rate beside its name, and so does Spends from on the Card page. Limit breakdown shows what backs each tier.
Spending order
You never pick which tier pays. Your card spends your cash first, then your credit, cheapest tier first: Savings, then Assets, then Income, then Boost.
When you repay, it works the other way round: the most expensive tier clears first.
Your cycle
Your line runs in cycles. The cycle card on Home tells you where you stand:
What has to be cleared each cycle is the unsecured part — what you've drawn on Income and Boost — plus any carry left over from a plan you've closed. Draws on Savings and Assets don't need clearing.
Repaying
Repay on the cycle card puts money against what you carry, most expensive tier first. It comes from Ready to allocate, and you can also repay from savings. If you repay more than you carry, the rest spills into your Spendable balance.
Automatic repayment
In Settings → Advanced → Permissions, Repay from USDC deposits turns on automatic repayment. When a USDC deposit arrives, what you owe is repaid from it first, most expensive tier first, and the rest is yours. A card purchase that is still pending isn't debt yet; it's repaid once it settles. Turning the switch off clears anything set aside and the money is simply yours again.
If a cycle ends and you still owe
Clear renews your cycle automatically when you owe nothing. If a cycle ends while you're still carrying a balance, you enter a grace period:
- During grace, you can't draw new credit. Clearing what you owe brings your line back, and the next cycle starts.
- If grace runs out with a balance still owed, your line is in default. Your tiers are set to zero and the debt is written off on the co-op's books, and savings or bonds that were backing what you drew can be taken to settle it.
Your term limit and paying over time
Paying over time turns one shop purchase into a plan, split across cycles. Plans draw only on your term limit, never on your card's credit line.
Your term limit
Your term limit is set from your observed income, not from a credit score, and only once your identity check has passed. A new plan has to fit inside what's left of it, so clearing a plan early frees its share straight away.
Opening a plan
At a shop, choose Pay over time on the charge and pick how to split it:
- Next cycle — the whole amount, at the end of this cycle
- In 2, In 4 or In 12 cycles
Paying over time is for charges of $50 or more; below that, a charge is paid now. Some shops, especially online, offer Pay now only. Each plan has its own rate, and the sheet shows your first payment and the rate before you approve. How the charge itself works is in The Clear card and paying at shops.
Paying a plan
Open a plan from Term plans on Home. Each plan shows what you owe today, your next payment and what's still owed. You can pay from Ready to allocate or from savings that aren't backing credit. Paying early always costs less.
With automatic repayment on, your installments are collected from USDC deposits as they fall due — never ahead of schedule.
Changing a split
From a plan's sheet, Change split spreads what's left over a new number of cycles. Anything you are behind on stays due now; only the rest is re-spread. You can't change a split while you're behind. A plan can be re-split up to three times, at least one installment apart.
Falling behind on a plan
If you miss an installment, the plan's sheet shows what's behind and the date to catch up by.
A plan that falls two installments behind defaults. When that happens:
- what you owe on your plans is written off and your open plans close
- term plans are paused and your term limit goes to zero
- your card, savings and membership are not affected
To bring term plans back, pay back what was written off: Term plans → Limit shows what's left and a Pay it back button. Once it is fully repaid the pause lifts, and a new term limit is set from your income.
Related
- Disputes — a disputed amount is held and charged no carry
- Who sets credit parameters: Governance
- The contracts: Protocol → Credit