Affirm Expands Installment Payment Options To Any On, Offline Store

Silicon Valley FinTech Affirm is rolling out a new app that will give customers a way to shop at almost any store and split their payments, the company announced in a press release on Monday (Oct. 7).

“Over the past 7 years, millions of customers have come to love the simplicity and transparency of shopping with Affirm — and they want to use our product everywhere,” said Max Levchin, co-founder and CEO of Affirm. “Today we’re excited to make this a reality with the new Affirm app, enabling consumers to use Affirm everywhere they love to shop.”

With the app, Affirm users can shop at almost any retailer by creating a onetime-use virtual card instead of being limited to shops that have Affirm integrated at checkout.

The app also gives users the ability to pay at any brick-and-mortar store that accepts Apple Pay or Google Pay.

Affirm says that 67 percent of consumers are looking to avoid credit cards this holiday season.

“Affirm’s proprietary underwriting model only approves users for what they can responsibly afford,” the release indicates.

Half of Affirm’s users are millennials or Gen Z, the company says. Holiday spending by Americans topped $700 million in 2018 and is expected to be higher in 2019, according to the National Retail Federation.

Affirm was started in 2012 by Max Levchin, who co-founded PayPal, along with Jeffrey Kaditz and Nathan Gettings.

The company recently raised $300 million in a Series F round led by Thrive, at a valuation of $2.9 billion. It also has raised $800 million from companies like Ribbit Capital, Founders Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, Khosla Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners and others.

Affirm gives shoppers payment plans for smaller items and allows them to create their own personalized plans. The company uses proprietary technology that looks beyond a credit score when assessing a consumer. The company makes money the same way a credit card company does, with interest.