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Why I'll never use Affirm again

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Re: Why I'll never use Affirm again

#61

Post by jayofdoom »

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…

A cfpb complaint got an issue resolved I had where my credit card issuing bank was refusing to accept that a charge was fraud. I issued the complaint with the exact same information I had given the bank support: that the supposed evidence that it wasn't fraud didn't include my signature and had an incorrect address, and as soon as the cfpb complaint came through the issue was resolved.

Re: Why I'll never use Affirm again

#62

Post by morpheuskafka »

simulate-me wrote: post #37
aynyc wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have a comparison to other states or agencies. I have file 2 complaints to NY AG in my life and I got responds in about a week from the people I complained against. One was my very first landlord after college decades ago, the other was a tow truck company about 10 years ago.

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.

> We should have systems in place where people are guaranteed to have their issues remedied.

That's basically what a lawsuit is--you sue someone and if they don't respond, you generally win by default, but if they do, you have the burden of proving your facts.

Re: Why I'll never use Affirm again

#63

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: Why I'll never use Affirm again

#64

Post by kotaKat »

s09dfhks wrote: post #18

I feel like all these online "buy now pay later" services are just there to prey on poor people

I've never (in my experience) seen credit-poor customers get approved by Affirm (or any other BNPL).

I have, however, seen Affirm's other scummy side -- they have a special 'workflow' with a partnership with Katapult, a lease-to-own provider, where the merchant can take an Affirm denial and push it to Katapult for an even more predatory rent-to-own loan at higher rates.

Re: Why I'll never use Affirm again

#65

Post by cbhl »

jonnycat wrote: post #57
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.

Here's patio11's write-up of the value to the business side:

https://bam.kalzumeus.com/archive/buy-now-pay-later/

Also discussion thread for aforementioned piece: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29841940

Re: Why I'll never use Affirm again

#66

Post by rowborg »

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…

I had a major issue with Bank of America that I could not get any support on. I filed a CFPB complaint and was directly contacted by a representative the next day who solved my problem.

Complaints are a big deal for these banks and fintechs; if the complaint level gets high, the auditors show up and plant themselves in the office and start digging. And when they start digging, they find things... things that end in public fines and damaging press releases.

Re: Why I'll never use Affirm again

#67

Post by mslate »

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.

The innovation isn’t the credit terms—-it’s A/B testing copy on the item & checkout page of e-commerce.

Quoting on-demand loan pricing with clearer upfront payment amounts is more intuitive to consumers than “putting it on the credit card”.

Re: Why I'll never use Affirm again

#68

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

Re: Why I'll never use Affirm again

#69

Post by kazanins »

jonnycat wrote: post #57
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.

Hi! Affirms scores (evaluates the risk) of each transaction in real time, which allows then to have reasonably low bad rates. Very few lenders can do it.

Re: Why I'll never use Affirm again

#70

Post by WYepQ4dNnG »

L_Rahman wrote: post #55
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.

That's exactly how I have used Affirm in the past ;)
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