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Why I'll never use Affirm again

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Re: Why I'll never use Affirm again

#51

Post by JumpCrisscross »

warent wrote: post #22
Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #17

I've never understood the appeal of using a product like Affirm, especially if you already have a credit card. Credit cards already give you a 30-day grace period before purchases start accruing interest. Using Affirm to extend that to 42 days seems inconsequential. It seems like their target customer are people bad with credit, which would make them predatory.

I had poor credit from student loans and Affirm was very generous to me when other banks weren't. Affirm helped lay the foundations to rebuilding my credit. They've been good for at least my case

> helped lay the foundations to rebuilding my credit

Does Affirm report paid-off loans to credit agencies?

Re: Why I'll never use Affirm again

#52

Post by toomuchtodo »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #51
warent wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had poor credit from student loans and Affirm was very generous to me when other banks weren't. Affirm helped lay the foundations to rebuilding my credit. They've been good for at least my case

> helped lay the foundations to rebuilding my credit Does Affirm report paid-off loans to credit agencies?

Yes. They also report each payment (had an Affirm loan for an Aviron row machine, as it was the only way to buy it, which is a whole other story).

Re: Why I'll never use Affirm again

#53

Post by morpheuskafka »

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #17

I've never understood the appeal of using a product like Affirm, especially if you already have a credit card. Credit cards already give you a 30-day grace period before purchases start accruing interest. Using Affirm to extend that to 42 days seems inconsequential. It seems like their target customer are people bad with credit, which would make them predatory.

Plus (as long as you do so sparingly), you can easily open a new card and get 1-2 years interest free plus a sign up bonus.

Re: Why I'll never use Affirm again

#54

Post by TedDoesntTalk »

tomp wrote: post #15
TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed. I would just pay it again. 25% of $271 is cheaper than a credit score hit. You can simultaneously dispute with the Attorney General office.

You should probably read patio11's article on fighting credit agencies instead. https://www.kalzumeus.com/2017/09/09/identity-theft-credit-r...

Not sure why the down votes. You can simultaneously dispute with the Attorney General office while paying Affirm's demands, in the hopes of later getting one of the payments refunded.

Re: Why I'll never use Affirm again

#55

Post by L_Rahman »

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #17

I've never understood the appeal of using a product like Affirm, especially if you already have a credit card. Credit cards already give you a 30-day grace period before purchases start accruing interest. Using Affirm to extend that to 42 days seems inconsequential. It seems like their target customer are people bad with credit, which would make them predatory.

0% APR over 12 months for a big ticket purchase like a mattress in an inflationary environment and a bull market can easily equal an additional 5-7% discount on 2000 dollars.

Admittedly this is not how most people are using Affirm, but it's definitely been useful to me in that way.

Re: Why I'll never use Affirm again

#56

Post by stu2b50 »

oh_sigh wrote: post #30
Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #17

I've never understood the appeal of using a product like Affirm, especially if you already have a credit card. Credit cards already give you a 30-day grace period before purchases start accruing interest. Using Affirm to extend that to 42 days seems inconsequential. It seems like their target customer are people bad with credit, which would make them predatory.

Spread out 0% Apr over 5 months instead of 2? Agreed about them being predatory. They literally lose money for every person that uses their service in the recommended/correct way, and only make money when someone flubs a payment.

That’s not how the business model works (or how they’d want it to work anyway). Affirm makes money on transactions in the “correct” way via very high merchant fees.

Merchants will pay affirm a large fee for conversion benefits (e.g better a customer pay $700 even if I lose $50 to affirm fees than for them to pay $0 because they got spooked by the price). Affirm gets the fee. They suffer risks from inflation and nonpayment. Hopefully for them one is larger than the other.

Re: Why I'll never use Affirm again

#57

Post by jonnycat »

Sohcahtoa82 wrote: post #17

I've never understood the appeal of using a product like Affirm, especially if you already have a credit card. Credit cards already give you a 30-day grace period before purchases start accruing interest. Using Affirm to extend that to 42 days seems inconsequential. It seems like their target customer are people bad with credit, which would make them predatory.

I can understand the value prop to the consumer - but I have a harder time understanding why it's an actual business, and why existing credit card companies or other lenders can't eat their lunch with the flip of a switch.

Re: Why I'll never use Affirm again

#58

Post by dtparr »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #47
simulate-me wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's nice that they cared, but they were under no obligation to respond. To me, this is an issue. We should have systems in place where people are guaranteed to have their issues remedied.

> they were under no obligation to respond Mileage varies by state. The New York AG tends to make not responding very costly, sometimes debilitatingly so, for companies. A letter copying e.g. the Alabama AG is likely to be ignored.

Do you have experience with the Alabama AG office not responding to a consumer complaint?

A quick google indicates both an online form and a phone number specifically for contacting Alabama AG Office Consumer Specialists: https://www.alabamaag.gov/consumercomplaint

Re: Why I'll never use Affirm again

#59

Post by mymllnthaccount »

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…

Just to add to this, it sounds like OP didn't contact Affirm until after they already started the charge back. I definitely don't think it is appropriate to do a charge back before contacting the vendor that got the payment, which is Affirm.

Re: Why I'll never use Affirm again

#60

Post by morpheuskafka »

meee wrote: post #28
toomuchtodo wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also file a complaint with the CFPB. https://www.consumerfinance.gov/complaint/

Has anyone had luck with this route? I went through the process and was unsatisfied. CFPB sends the complaint and then the company self reports that they didn't do anything wrong and then the complainer has a chance to say they disagree. I don't think they intend to resolve specific issues. They seem more like a trendspotter than solutionist. It's a circuitous path to the solution of get a lawyer. With CFPB, you are…

Every time I have used it I have gotten a proper response from the company (one case was a clear mistake). But yeah if they don't, there isn't any immediate action from the CFPB. For a bank, you can complain to the actual regulator (OCC for a national bank, Federal Reserve or FDIC for a state bank).
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