"Late-Night Online Shopping Raises Concerns for Affirm Buy Now, Pay Later Lender"

Affirm's Chief Financial Officer, Michael Linford, revealed that the fintech firm uses the time of day a consumer attempts a transaction as a key data point to determine loan approvals, with transactions between midnight and 4 a.m. signaling higher credit risk. The buy now, pay later industry, including companies like Affirm, Klarna, and Sezzle, offers real-time approvals for installment loans embedded in online checkout pages, but critics argue that they enable overspending. Affirm manages repayment risk by denying transactions or offering shorter-term loans with down payments, and reported steady delinquencies despite surging purchase volumes.