Affirm provides millions of shoppers an alternative to traditional credit cards at the point of sale, giving them the flexibility to buy now and pay for their purchases over time with simple monthly payments. Unlike payment options that have compounding interest and unexpected costs, Affirm shows customers upfront exactly what they’ll pay each month with no hidden fees and no surprises.
- Founded: 2012
- IPO: 2021
- Revenue: 2020 $352M
- Number of Employees: 1,400
- Number of Consumers: 8.7M
- Number of Merchants: 102k
- HQ: San Francisco, CA
- Remote Offices: Chicago & NYC
IN THE NEWS
THE PROBLEM
At Affirm we believe the current credit system is inherently broken and is built on incentives that profit directly from the consumer’s failure leading to growing negative sentiments and lack of trust from consumers.
THE SOLUTION
Affirm was founded with a goal to create honest financial products and services that empower consumers and improve lives. Their mission is to revolutionize the banking industry to be more accountable and accessible to consumers by evolving FICO and reinventing consumer credit.
PROPRIETARY TECHNOLOGY
Twenty percent of US adults are considered credit invisible, meaning they have little to no credit history. Affirm was founded on the idea that underwriting risk to extend consumer credit is inherently a data problem and the traditional model can leave many consumers behind. Affirm has built a game-changing underwriting risk model that reads traditional third-party data sources, such as credit history, differently than other underwriting models. The company uses machine learning technology to constantly learn from previous decisioning and continuously refine their underwriting over time. This allows Affirm to approve 126 percent higher than the industry average, underwriting a wider pool of deserving consumers at the purchase level to empower them in their financial lives. Affirm also underwrites each transaction individually, allowing us to give shoppers the best deal on each and every purchase.
Beyond underwriting, the financial industry has had a long history of betting against consumers by making most of their money through late fees, deferred interest, and other penalties that rely on customer delinquency or failure. Affirm’s business model is designed to be fundamentally aligned with the best interests of the consumer, so they are incentivized to help consumers be successful and provide products that improve their financial health rather than risking it.
MARKET DIFFERENTIATION
Beyond underwriting, the financial industry has had a long history of betting against consumers by making most of their money through late fees, deferred interest, and other penalties that rely on customer delinquency or failure. Affirm’s business model is designed to be fundamentally aligned with the best interests of the consumer, so they are incentivized to help consumers be successful and provide products that improve their financial health rather than risking it.