SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Affirm, the new consumer finance service, today announced the commercial release of its new Split Pay service that lets online merchants offer the power of installment payments to their consumers at the point of sale. Using Split Pay, online shoppers can make a purchase and pay across multiple months with simple, clear financing fees a fraction of credit card interest rates.
“Consumers want and need an easy-to-use alternative to credit cards when they’re shopping online, especially underserved populations like Millennials, enthusiasts, and the vast population of debit card users,” said Affirm Founder Max Levchin. “Consumer financing has been available to the largest online and many brick and mortar merchants for years. We’re now bringing this powerful financing to all online merchants, large and small.”
With Affirm there is zero risk for the eTailer. Affirm pays its merchants in full at the time of settlement and their customers enjoy payments stretched out in monthly installments. Unlike point-of-sale credit options, Split Pay is consumer-friendly by providing clear terms and a fixed set of payments. Using Split Pay, consumers are never hit with surprises or large fees as they often are with revolving credit.
Chris Luhur, director of marketing at the online marketplace for secondhand fashion Twice, said working with Affirm is a no-brainer.
“We strive to provide a stellar secondhand shopping experience online, and are always looking for new ways to give our customers products and services that fit their lifestyle,” said Luhur. “With payment options like Split Pay, customers can now shop our newly stocked, one-of-a-kind inventory as it becomes available, then pay for it at a more convenient time. Plus, Affirm guarantees every payment, so it’s risk free – a win-win scenario for both Twice and our customers.”
Added Tara Moeller, sales and marketing director for Faraday Bicycles: “Our customers are really passionate about our bicycles, but for some, putting a Faraday on a credit or debit card is challenging. Affirm lets our customers get their bike now and pay it off over time with simple, low-cost, transparent financing, which means more people enjoying the Faraday experience faster.”
Affirm was started in 2012 by Levchin, co-founder of the digital payments giant PayPal, Nathan Gettings, co-founder of Palantir, the go-to company for mining massive data sets, and Jeff Kaditz, formerly Chief Data Officer of gaming company, ngmoco. They started Affirm on the belief that the current credit system based on FICO, the credit rating company introduced in the mid 1950s, is not working for many consumers.
“Over 40 percent of consumers are either disenchanted or disenfranchised when it comes to credit,” said Levchin. “In contrast, Affirm is a simple, safe, transparent alternative to revolving credit for online shoppers who primarily use debit cards or are underserved – or not at all – by the currently FICO-based consumer lending system.”
Affirm uses the power of big data to make better, faster financing decisions about shoppers at the point of purchase. The only information a first time user provides is top-of-mind facts such as their name, mobile phone number, and birthday. And once approved, there is no user name or password to remember for future use.
“Our mission is to deliver honest financial products that improve lives – that modernize and simplify payments for mobile shoppers and merchants,” said Levchin. “For most consumers buying many things they need or want can throw their monthly budgets into a tailspin, or leave them in debt that’s difficult to get out of. Spreading payments over a few months at affordable rates makes it a lot easier to put food on the table, pay the rent and cover all the other regular monthly expenses. And for merchants, Affirm financing consistently increases conversions and average order values up to 35 percent – at least, that’s what our pilot partners have been reporting to us.”
To use Affirm at point of purchase, eTailers can use Celery (trycelery.com) for a turnkey integration as well as with plug-ins for Spree Commerce, Magento, and other major platforms.
Pricing and Availability
With Affirm, there are no exorbitant interest rates, convoluted terms in small type, or surprises. Instead, Affirm charges merchants 2-3% percent of each transaction, and shoppers’ fees start as low as 6 percent depending on their payment history, dollar amount being financed, and whether they commit to three, four, or five monthly installments. The finance fees are built into every payment notice.
Today, Affirm’s consumer finance service is available to 85 percent of U.S. consumers and will open to all consumers later this year.
About Affirm
Affirm is reimagining financial services – from credit cards to deposit banking. Starting with an amazingly simple, new way to get affordable financing at the online point of sale, Affirm lets shoppers pay for purchases across multiple months with transparent, fairly-priced fees built into every payment, and boosts conversion and basket size for eTailers at less than the cost of credit cards. Created in 2012 by PayPal Co-founder Max Levchin, Palantir Co-founder Nathan Gettings, and former Chief Data Officer of ngmoco, Jeff Kaditz, Affirm is based in San Francisco. To start working with Affirm go to affirm.com.
