I used to be in a rock band, and we were all absolute slaves to Affirm for financing instruments and gear.
I haven't used Affirm in about two years now, but tonight opened up the app just for fun to check out my purchasing power and what not.
I wandered over to the purchase history and was shocked to discover that between 2017 and 2023, I opened and completed 25 different loans through Affirm.
At the end of the day, does this positively or negatively affect my profile? I'm curious how this moves the needle. From a newbie's perspective, I'd imagine it demonstrates trustworthiness with the 25 fulfilled loans with zero late payments, and I'd imagine it adds thickness (is that the term we use?) to my profile.
However, I'd love to hear from some people who actually know what they're talking about.
Did all 25 loans make it too your credit report(s)? I used affirm, but only when it offered 0% APR for 4 installments that didn't report.
@citymunky wrote:Did all 25 loans make it too your credit report(s)? I used affirm, but only when it offered 0% APR for 4 installments that didn't report.
I believe so, I see a total of 40 accounts on my profile ~28 closed including 25 Affirm loans, a paid off car, paid off student loan, and a Discover card I got when I was 17 that Discover randomly closed about 8 years ago.
So on one hand you have thick file with alot of positive tradelines reported, but on the other I bet your Average Age of Accounts/Credit Age is not ideal due to amount for loans that only lasted a short amount of time.
@citymunky wrote:So on one hand you have thick file with alot of positive tradelines reported, but on the other I bet your Average Age of Accounts/Credit Age is not ideal due to amount for loans that only lasted a short amount of time.
Ahh, had not considered this side effect!
@AirPodMax wrote:
@citymunky wrote:So on one hand you have thick file with alot of positive tradelines reported, but on the other I bet your Average Age of Accounts/Credit Age is not ideal due to amount for loans that only lasted a short amount of time.
Ahh, had not considered this side effect!
I made the mistake of using affirm once to buy a laptop, I have older post about it but basically it hurt me more than it helped and I'm glad they only report to one CRA and not all 3. Even now my EX scores will slightly lag the others because they are reporting a "consumer finance account" that none of the others are. CFAs aren't good for your credit scores. If I'd known then what I know now I would have done it differently. Luckily the account will fall off in just another year or two and I still have great credit anyway but it's in spite of Affirm not because of them.
-edit-
Actually I just checked and I paid the account off Apr. 2018 which means it will report for another 3 years. Ugh.
8/8/25
@Lou-naticThis kinda highlights what I see as the actual problemm - that the mere presense of a consumer finance account is a negative. While I've never used Affirm, Klarna or any of those services I do take issue with CFA's being treated as an automatic negative regardless of whether they are paid in full per the terms. From my perspective that's a serious flaw in the scoring algorithms.
@AirPodMax wrote:I used to be in a rock band, and we were all absolute slaves to Affirm for financing instruments and gear.
I haven't used Affirm in about two years now, but tonight opened up the app just for fun to check out my purchasing power and what not.
I wandered over to the purchase history and was shocked to discover that between 2017 and 2023, I opened and completed 25 different loans through Affirm.
At the end of the day, does this positively or negatively affect my profile? I'm curious how this moves the needle. From a newbie's perspective, I'd imagine it demonstrates trustworthiness with the 25 fulfilled loans with zero late payments, and I'd imagine it adds thickness (is that the term we use?) to my profile.
However, I'd love to hear from some people who actually know what they're talking about.
I've never used Affirm, but many of my friends and family have. I don't know if this is always true, but many said that only the first loan is reported to credit bureaus. All subsequent ones are not, unless you default. Please correct me if this is in error. In addition, they said their scores went up initially, but then went back down to the original level when the loan was paid. Thanks.
@Zoostation1 wrote:@Lou-naticThis kinda highlights what I see as the actual problemm - that the mere presense of a consumer finance account is a negative. While I've never used Affirm, Klarna or any of those services I do take issue with CFA's being treated as an automatic negative regardless of whether they are paid in full per the terms. From my perspective that's a serious flaw in the scoring algorithms.
In general, I must agree with your assessment. Any money you borrow and pay back in a timely manner as agreed, regardless of the source, should be scored positively. It seems risk management algorithms are written in stone, and all involved follow them blindly. As soon as the first lender deemed CFA's "risky," each one followed suit. "Payday loan lenders" were the first "villains." Now, lenders such as Affirm, Klanra, et al are also lumped into the same risk group. In the end, all we can do is what is in our best interest. Good luck to us all.