Affirm Moves Into Bank Debit Cards With Fiserv Deal

Payments and financial services company Fiserv has launched a partnership with pay-over-time provider Affirm.

This collaboration is designed to bring buy now, pay later (BNPL) capabilities to the debit card programs at Fiserv’s bank and credit union partners as consumers seek flexible payment options, the companies said in a Monday (Jan. 26) news release.

“Community and regional banks and credit unions want to meet evolving consumer expectations around greater flexibility in how they pay for purchases all the while building a strong relationship with their primary financial institution,” Erik Wichita, Fiserv’s head of card services, said in a news release.

“This partnership gives our clients a practical, scalable way to offer such payment flexibility through their existing debit products—helping them compete effectively, deepen customer and member relationships, and drive top-of-wallet engagement with their products.”

According to the release, Affirm and Fiserv will manage all technical aspects of the integration, combining Affirm’s platform to support real-time underwriting, loan origination and funding and Fiserv’s digital solutions.

“By embedding BNPL into existing debit programs, issuers can keep customer spend within their ecosystem, driving engagement and transaction growth,” the release added. Consumers can use Affirm any place their debit cards are accepted and apply for pay-later options.

The two companies first joined forces in 2022, integrating Affirm into Fiserv’s Commerce Hub, to allow merchants to offer buy now, pay later (BNPL) at checkout.

The news comes days after Affirm announced plans to establish a bank subsidiary called Affirm Bank, allowing the company to keep scaling while having a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation-backed (FDIC) institution.

“A banking subsidiary would strengthen and diversify Affirm’s platform, and help us bring honest financial products to more people,” Affirm founder and CEO Max Levchin said in a news release. “This is about expanding what we can do for consumers and merchants, and building for the long term.”

In other BNPL news, PYMTS wrote recently about the “especially pronounced” link between the payment method and consumers who are likely to revolve their credit balances.

Consumers likely to turn to BNPL carry average credit card balances $1,128 higher than those unlikely to use it. Habitual BNPL users who finance essentials and discretionary purchases hold average balances of $5,181, around 60% higher than non-users.

“Rather than signaling reckless spending, the trend reflects how households sequence multiple forms of short-term credit to manage timing mismatches between income and expenses,” PYMNTS wrote. “How institutions respond to that shift will shape both risk management and product design in the year ahead.”