Yes, in terms of it's apparent score requirements, it certainly seems to be geared to the subprime market. But when you checkout at WalMart's website, the option to pay with Affirm appears for most purchases that are over a certain dollar amount in total ($144 or something like that, although the amount may vary by store). So, unless you are familiar with Affirm, you wouldn't necessarily know that it's a subprime product. The APR Affirm offers -- or, at least the APR offered to me -- didn't seem unreasonably high at the time. While I honestly don't remember the exact APR for the three-month loan, I'm quite sure it was 10% or less. And since the term of the loan was only three months, the total cost of the loan was not much more than $10, if that.
My biggest issue with Affirm is the fact that Affirm tradelines are reported as personal loans. Many years ago, I entered into a retail installment contract with a merchant. It was reported to TransUnion and Experian under the "Other" category. Within the "Other" category, the account type is listed as "Installment Sales Contract," on TransUnion, and "Sales Contract," on Experian.
That would seem to me to be the correct way for Affirm loans to be reported/classified. Since every Affirm purchase appears as a different personal loan tradeline, a person who enters into multiple purchase agreements with Affirm would appear to have many personal loans on his/her credit file. Depending upon other factors in that person's credit report, it's possible these numerous personal loan tradelines might have a negative impact on score.
