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Why I'll never use Affirm again

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Re: Why I'll never use Affirm again

#141

Post by horsawlarway »

thaway2839 wrote: post #116
skinnymuch wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Poor credit means you’re not getting credit cards beyond measly ones

It's funny because giving people with poor credit loans they couldn't repay is exactly what led to the financial crisis and what we villainized the banks for.

This is only true in a vague and mostly irrelevant manner.

Yes - we gave people with poor credit mortgages to buy homes, and yes that did lead to the financial crisis, but not because they were poor and had bad credit.

It was because the loans were very large, and were backed by the supposed value of the home the person was buying. Then packaged in ways that hid the risk until the last minute - making those assets toxic when the housing bubble popped.

For small personal loans, there are not the same sort of systemic risks.

Re: Why I'll never use Affirm again

#142

Post by crisopolis »

mymllnthaccount wrote: post #39

This is kind of OP's fault, right? I don't think it was appropriate to initiate a charge back on a payment to affirm since they provided their service to OP, that is they already paid for whatever OP was buying. I have a feeling that timing between OP opening the chargeback and the shipping of the item was actually coincidental. I'd think if you paid affirm and the merchant hadn't shipped the item, then your recourse…

I agree it does read like the OP triggered the entire issue with payments using a chargeback originating from Chase, regardless of the support/platform issues with Affirm.

I don't believe charging back the loan provider had any outcome to getting their product/service.

Affirm was the wrong target.

Re: Why I'll never use Affirm again

#143

Post by commandlinefan »

dymk wrote: post #126
commandlinefan wrote: post #71

But the developers got all their tickets closed this sprint. Because at the end of the day, ticking boxes is what matters, not actually providing business value. Just ask your scrum "master".

I find it hard to blame anybody but the company leadership for issues like this. They took on responsibility for the company, both its successes and failures.

It's the company leadership's fault for judging everybody on an easily gameable metric rather than spending any time managing.

Re: Why I'll never use Affirm again

#144

Post by dubcanada »

danvoell wrote: post #92

I worked at a large OTA (Online Travel Agency) who adopted Affirm a few years back. I vehemently opposed it and told everyone I could up the chain of command. A vast majority of the folks who used it, are the ones who shouldn't use it. Taking out a two year loan for a 3 day vacation.

Why? It's actually extremely smart financially as stated in another thread where investing that money over 2 years can actually result in a slightly cheaper item.

Re: Why I'll never use Affirm again

#147

Post by gscott »

kelnos wrote: post #140
cityofdelusion wrote: post #112

Is it normal to do a chargeback against a loan provider? I was under the impression that it’s more for “services rendered” type of situations — which the lender fulfilled by providing the loan. I would expect there to be pure chaos if I did that to any of my lenders. I’ve just never heard of this sort of situation so I’m curious as to what the financial wisdom is.

I would think that the better thing -- in an ideal world -- would be to contact Affirm and tell them to withhold payment from the merchant, since the merchant had not provided the goods. That way you'd still be in Affirm's good graces. But considering how this particular situation went as-is, I doubt Affirm would handle that request in any useful manner. Then again, I feel like this was a bit of an unusual situation…

Affirm is not like a credit card. They actually put your loan with Cross River Bank and are just the middle-man who collects commissions and collects fees from merchants for advertising on Affirm.com/app. I learned this the hard way... they care not if you get the item, or if it is good, or if it is a scam. Affirm is oblivious to it all. Just collecting fees.

Re: Why I'll never use Affirm again

#150

Post by o10449366 »

cityofdelusion wrote: post #112

Is it normal to do a chargeback against a loan provider? I was under the impression that it’s more for “services rendered” type of situations — which the lender fulfilled by providing the loan. I would expect there to be pure chaos if I did that to any of my lenders. I’ve just never heard of this sort of situation so I’m curious as to what the financial wisdom is.

One thing I'm curious about is whether Affirm would return the payment to you while they investigate the chargeback - that would be one reason as a consumer I would do a chargeback through my bank instead.
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