• Home
  • Latest
  • Fortune 500
  • Finance
  • Tech
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia

Exclusive

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

An hour in the Oval Office with President Trump Fortune Editor-in-Chief: Alyson Shontell sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office for an hour. Tariffs, Intel, AI, Boeing, Iran—and the question every CEO eventually has to answer: who's next?

TechAffirm

Lending company Affirm takes on bricks and mortar shopping

By
Kia Kokalitcheva
Kia Kokalitcheva
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Kia Kokalitcheva
Kia Kokalitcheva
Down Arrow Button Icon
October 27, 2015, 11:00 AM ET
<h1>28. Max Levchin (TIE)</h1>
The tech world knows this list returnee as a founder of PayPal and Slide, but now Levchin has launched Glow, one of the Valley's first fertility apps. Levchin is also keeping busy on the boards of Yelp and Yahoo.
<h1>28. Max Levchin (TIE)</h1> The tech world knows this list returnee as a founder of PayPal and Slide, but now Levchin has launched Glow, one of the Valley's first fertility apps. Levchin is also keeping busy on the boards of Yelp and Yahoo.Photo: David Paul Morris/Getty

Affirm, PayPal co-founder Max Levchin’s consumer lending startup, is bringing its instant loans for shoppers to brick-and-mortar stores.

Affirm set out to rethink how consumers, especially millennials, borrow money. Instead of using a credit card, Affirm lets borrowers take out a microloan (typically a few hundred dollars per transaction) at the point of sale to finance a purchase. The company uses a variety of data about the borrowers, including non-traditional criteria like social media presence, to determine creditworthiness. The terms of the loan, including interest rates which are typically between 6% and 30%, are clearly indicated upfront so there are no surprises for the borrower down the line. The goal is to serve consumers who might not otherwise have access to credit based on traditional credit scores like FICO.

Since debuting last year, Affirm has only been available to online retailers who signed on individually. Then in August, it teamed with e-commerce software provider Shopify to bring in more customers.

Now, with the holiday season fast approaching, Affirm is setting its sights on brick-and-mortar stores through a partnership with Clover, a point of sale system owned by First Data (FDC). Clover’s point-of-sale product, a modern day cash register, lets merchants easily turn on Affirm’s service with a few taps on the tablet-like device. Customers can sign up for and apply for a loan from the mobile app.

“Obviously the majority of retail is offline so we’ve been building our product to do that,” Brad Selby, Affirm’s vice president of merchant services, told Fortune.

The company plans to partner with additional providers of point-of-sale products, he added.

Another new way shoppers can use Affirm loans is through one-time credit card-like numbers. The company can issue shoppers a number that can be entered like a credit card by merchants that have neither Affirm’s system or a Clover register. The catch, however, is that shoppers must declare the specific purchase they want to make, and the merchant has to be loosely partnered with Affirm so that some data can be exchanged. It’s therefore not entirely flexible.

Affirm is also expanding a pilot it has operated for the past few months that lets salespeople issue Affirm loans over the phone. The process is fairly simple: during the call, the salesperson inputs basic information about the customer, such as their name, phone number, and email. The customer then receivers a web link via email or SMS through which they can then complete the transaction. According to Selby, companies in the pilot have expressed positive feedback about this financing option. So far, about a dozen companies, including 3D printer seller MakerBot and smartphone repair service iCracked, have been using this, with another dozen waiting to receive access.

“Being able to originate a loan through the phone is a really powerful thing,” Selby said.

Up next, the company is working to make its service more widely available through NFC payment terminals, Selby revealed.

Founded in 2012 by Levchin, Jeff Kaditz, and Nathan Gettings, Affirm has raised $320 in funding so far, including a monster $275 million round of debt and equity financing this past spring.

Subscribe to Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter on the business of technology.

For more on millennials and lending, watch this Fortune video:

About the Author
By Kia Kokalitcheva
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Tech

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025

Most Popular

Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Finance
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam
By Fortune Editors
October 20, 2025
Fortune Secondary Logo
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • World's Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
  • Lists Calendar
Sections
  • Finance
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Features
  • Leadership
  • Health
  • Commentary
  • Success
  • Retail
  • Mpw
  • Tech
  • Lifestyle
  • CEO Initiative
  • Asia
  • Politics
  • Conferences
  • Europe
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Finance
  • Environment
  • Magazine
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
  • Group Subscriptions
About Us
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • About Us
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map
  • Facebook icon
  • Twitter icon
  • LinkedIn icon
  • Instagram icon
  • Pinterest icon

Latest in Tech

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in Oakland, California, on May 12, 2026. (Photo: Josh Edelson/AFP/Getty Images)
NewslettersFortune Tech
Musk v. Altman: That’s all, folks
By Andrew NuscaMay 19, 2026
18 minutes ago
joel
Commentarysaas
The SaaSpocalypse isn’t killing software. It’s exposing where software value really lives
By Joel HronMay 19, 2026
52 minutes ago
College graduates sitting at commencement yell.
AIEducation
College students are booing commencement speakers celebrating AI, but the wave of hate hasn’t stopped them from using it to cheat on their exams
By Sasha RogelbergMay 19, 2026
2 hours ago
Environmental advocates and progressive lawmakers hold a rally in support of legislation that would put a moratorium on new data centers in the state on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y.
AIData centers
Americans’ AI hate wave might just be gathering steam: Data centers could hike power costs in some states over 50% by 2030
By Tristan BoveMay 19, 2026
3 hours ago
How a book convinced Arundhati Bhattacharya, one of India’s most powerful bankers, to try working for a U.S. tech company
AsiaMost Powerful Women
How a book convinced Arundhati Bhattacharya, one of India’s most powerful bankers, to try working for a U.S. tech company
By Angelica AngMay 19, 2026
3 hours ago
altman
CommentarySam Altman
Musk vs. Altman: AI safety cannot be one man’s job
By Stavros GadinisMay 18, 2026
12 hours ago

Most Popular

The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
Politics
The Bezos family just donated $100 million to help achieve one of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s top campaign promises
By Jake AngeloMay 12, 2026
7 days ago
While Trump insisted the Iran war would end ‘soon,’ an account in his name was buying millions in oil, defense and gold
Economy
While Trump insisted the Iran war would end ‘soon,’ an account in his name was buying millions in oil, defense and gold
By Eva RoytburgMay 18, 2026
15 hours ago
Current price of oil as of May 18, 2026
Personal Finance
Current price of oil as of May 18, 2026
By Joseph HostetlerMay 18, 2026
21 hours ago
EXCLUSIVE: An hour in the Oval Office with the CEO-in-Chief, President Trump
Politics
EXCLUSIVE: An hour in the Oval Office with the CEO-in-Chief, President Trump
By Alyson ShontellMay 18, 2026
1 day ago
Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI
AI
Microsoft AI chief gives it 18 months—for all white-collar work to be automated by AI
By Jake AngeloMay 16, 2026
3 days ago
Spirit Airlines apologizes to all the Americans who can't afford any summer vacation flights as it shuts down
Travel & Leisure
Spirit Airlines apologizes to all the Americans who can't afford any summer vacation flights as it shuts down
By Rio Yamat and The Associated PressMay 18, 2026
21 hours ago

© 2026 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.