Affirm: United States / Canada's bnpl
US BNPL and instalment lender offering both Pay in 4 and longer-tenor financing with transparent APR.
How the Affirm flow works
At checkout the shopper picks Affirm and provides basic information for a soft-pull underwrite. Affirm offers a menu of options depending on cart size — from Pay in 4 (interest-free) to 3-, 6-, 12- or 24-month instalment loans with disclosed APR.
The shopper picks a plan and Affirm pays the merchant in full upfront, taking on all credit risk.
Repayments are made monthly via debit card, ACH or Affirm's own card. Interest and terms are shown up front — there are no compounding fees or late charges on the core product.
Affirm is prominent in higher-ticket categories where a 12–24 month plan converts better than credit card revolving balances.
Typical use cases
- High-AOV categories: furniture, mattresses, electronics, fitness equipment, home improvement, travel.
- Merchants wanting a US-native BNPL alongside card checkout.
- Any category where transparent instalment financing outperforms credit-card revolving as a purchase-financing option.
Consumer reach
Strong US brand recognition; expanding in Canada.
Skews slightly older and higher-ticket than pay-in-4-only competitors.
Who should accept Affirm
- US merchants selling higher-ticket goods where financing meaningfully lifts conversion.
- Brands preferring a transparent APR product over deferred/late-fee BNPL models.
Operational detail
The operational half of every method profile — settlement, refunds, disputes, PSP coverage and licensing — is reserved for Payment Methods List founding partners. It's the part vendor sites won't publish and the part that actually decides whether Affirm works for your stack.
Settlement time
When Affirm advances the full principal to the merchant vs. releases in tranches, how returns and disputes claw back settled funds, currency of payout, and which PSPs front the receivable so you're not exposed to consumer repayment.
Book a founding-partner call →Refund mechanics
How refunds interact with the consumer's installment plan on Affirm, whether the schedule pauses, shortens or is cancelled, how partial refunds are apportioned across remaining installments, and the PSP calls that trigger it cleanly.
Book a founding-partner call →Chargeback exposure
How Affirm handles buyer disputes when the provider owns the consumer relationship, whether losses fall on the merchant or the BNPL, evidence requirements, and observed dispute rates in high-fraud verticals.
Book a founding-partner call →PSP coverage matrix
Whether Affirm is offered natively by acquirers or only through the BNPL's own checkout SDK, effective merchant discount ranges, minimum volumes, vertical restrictions, and the PSPs that unify reporting across cards + BNPL.
Book a founding-partner call →KYC & licensing notes
Which consumer-credit and data-protection regimes Affirm operates under in United States / Canada, disclosures the merchant must show at checkout, merchant-side KYC requirements, and what changes when the BNPL is the licensed lender vs. a broker.
Book a founding-partner call →