Intro
Affirm CEO Max Levchin takes stock of the American consumer on the day his company's revenue forecast beats estimates, describing borrowers who are paying on time and shopping while stretching their budgets against elevated gas prices and sticky inflation. The conversation covers what Affirm finances and what it refuses to, how the company sets its own decline rate, its pending bank charter application, and a push to make the in-store business look more like the online one.
Guest: Max Levchin, CEO of Affirm, joining from Bloomberg's San Francisco bureau
Published: 28 August 2026 on Bloomberg Talks
Listen on Omny | 8 min
Key Takeaways
The Affirm borrower is healthy, and the squeeze is good for business
Paying back on time, shopping, taking the 0% deals, but stretching budgets against elevated gas prices and inflation above target
Levchin says that stretching "actually accretes to the demand for Affirm"
Affirm sets a loss rate first, and the approval rate falls out of it
The company is slightly more restrictive than it was a year ago, but nothing dramatic
Some borrowing gets declined on purpose, including stretched subscriptions
No late fees, so a borrower without a plan to repay is a loss rather than a fee
Results are the differentiator Levchin leads with
"I think we've grown 30-plus percent for the last 11 quarters if memory serves."
The bank charter is in the regulators' hands and he will not predict it
Not needed to operate, but over time it would feed into cost of funds
In-store is the next build, run out of an innovation lab called ZT1
Online, Affirm adds 30% more volume through better conversion; offline the participation is de minimis outside the Affirm card
Shares Spike on the Revenue Forecast, Then Hand Most of It Back
The show opens on the stock rather than the guest, tracking a move that had already faded by air time: "They jumped as much as 17% in trading to the highest intraday going back to September of 2025. This after the fintech company forecast revenue for the first quarter that beat the average analyst estimate. Shares now higher by about 2.4%, so giving up some of those gains."
The trigger was the first-quarter revenue forecast, which came in above the average analyst estimate
Separately, the show notes, Affirm and Shopify expanded their global partnership to launch Shop Pay Installments in Australia
Levchin joins from Bloomberg's San Francisco bureau, and the show frames Affirm's lending data as the kind of alternative data that gives a real-time read on the consumer
The Affirm Consumer Is Healthy, and Stretching Budgets
Levchin's headline read is that his own borrowers are in good shape: they are paying Affirm back on time, they are shopping, and they are taking advantage of the 0% deals the company offers alongside interest-bearing loans
He does not pretend the backdrop is easy. Gas prices are elevated for Affirm's customers just as they are for everyone else
On inflation he points at the Fed chairman's remarks the show had just aired, saying inflation is still stubbornly sticking above its target
The squeeze is a demand driver for the business: "I think they are stretching their budgets when they need to do it. And frankly, that actually accretes to the demand for Affirm."
Customers ask Affirm to step up and help them manage family budgets more often in this environment, he says, but by and large they are healthy
What Affirm Finances, and What It Declines on Purpose
Asked what people are actually buying — big-ticket items, or utility bills — Levchin says the portfolio is dominated by homewares and sporting equipment
Back to school is the seasonal driver right now, with families taking on expenses for children heading back to class. That, he says, is the bread and butter of Affirm and has been for a very long time
The company is not a fan of financing recurring transactions. It takes steps to stop consumers giving themselves a false sense of security by stretching a subscription into a longer subscription, which he calls a financially unhealthy decision
No late fees is the alignment mechanism: because Affirm does not charge them, a borrower who takes a loan without a clear plan to pay it back is simply a loss for the company
The models are oriented to decline that kind of application. Levchin's framing is that Affirm wants its consumers to be financially responsible and is there to help them be so
How the Decline Rate Actually Gets Set
Asked whether the rate of declines is changing, Levchin says the rate of decline is not an outcome the company observes — it is something Affirm sets
The crash course he offers runs backwards from the loss rate: Affirm picks an acceptable loss rate given the macroeconomic signals it can see, and that dictates the rate of approval and the rate of decline, as a function of credit quality
Pressed on whether that means the decision is impersonal, he says it absolutely changes with the individual — the point is only that the company works backwards from the loss rate it will tolerate
The macro position today is tighter, but only slightly: against the credit applications it sees every day, Affirm is probably slightly more restrictive than it was this time last year, and he says nothing dramatic has changed
Why He Says Affirm Is a Different Breed From Klarna and the Cards
The show puts Klarna and traditional credit cards to him and asks what sets Affirm apart. Levchin says he does not want to throw shade at anyone and leads with the numbers instead
The record is the first answer: "I think we've grown 30-plus percent for the last 11 quarters if memory serves." He adds that Affirm has been consistently profitable for 12 months, and says it may be the only company in the space to have printed consistent results while growing quickly and staying profitable
The merchant half of the pitch: Affirm adds a lot of volume to merchant partners while always making them look great, because the product makes the merchant more affordable rather than more expensive
The consumer half: no late fees, no compound interest, no deferred interest, and full transparency on what a loan will cost, with rewards for paying on time or early — which he contrasts with traditional financial services
When Affirm says no, he says, it makes a point of telling the borrower it is not being finicky but genuinely believes borrowing more is a bad idea for them, and most of them appreciate it
The company's self-description: a different breed, with a DNA in underwriting, precision, transparency and quality
The Bank Charter Is In Process, and He Won't Call It
Affirm applied for a bank charter earlier this year, and the show asks for the status
His answer is that it is genuinely not resolved: "It's exactly the sort of thing that you're not done until you are." He describes a very rigorous process the regulators allow no shortcuts through, and says he appreciates that
It is a want, not a need. Affirm does not require a charter to operate, but he would absolutely welcome membership of that particular club
Two benefits he names: it clarifies the company's exact regulatory status, and over time a Bank of Affirm, should the charter be granted, becomes a source of funding for the loan portfolio and feeds into the cost of funds
Asked whether it is fine if the application fails, he says yes but that the company certainly hopes to get it. Asked to predict the outcome, he declines, saying he will report back if and when it happens
The exchange turns into a run of banter about the interviewers' persistence, which Levchin closes with the line that everyone is doing their jobs
In-Store Is the Next Build, Run Out of the ZT1 Lab
Asked for his strategy in physical stores, Levchin says in-store is something he is personally very focused on
A reorg he calls very minor has freed him up for it, letting him spend more time inside Affirm's innovation lab, ZT1 — a name he glosses on air as zero to one
The online benchmark he wants to match offline: Affirm adds 30% more volume online through better conversion and through giving consumers access to credit, and he says the offline effect is more or less the same
The problem is participation, not performance: "the participation in the offline world for us right now is quite de minimis other than our Affirm card"
The plan is to invest heavily in making the card better and more rewarding, alongside what he describes as some really clever ideas for the in-store experience
He declines to front-run any of it, but tells the show to watch this space and to ask him again in a quarter, when he thinks he will have real results to show
The Affirm Card in Digital Wallets
The show asks about the move that let users load the Affirm card into Apple Pay, which an interviewer dates, hedging, to last September
Levchin says the company loves all of its digital wallet partners, describing wallets as another way of carrying Affirm into a store
Growth is coming from both routes: healthy growth through plastic taps and swipes, and through digital wallets online and offline
Offline is the prize: he calls it such a big unlock, says Affirm is doing really well there, and says he is quite excited to do more
Levchin's bottom line is that Affirm's borrowers are healthy but stretched, that the stretching sends more of them to Affirm, and that the company's next growth problem is a physical-store business he now runs at from his own innovation lab.
Products, Companies & Tools Mentioned
Affirm card (The only meaningful piece of Affirm's in-store business today; Levchin says he will invest heavily in making it better and more rewarding)
Shopify and Shop Pay Installments (The expanded global partnership the show announces at the top of the segment, launching Shop Pay Installments in Australia)
Klarna (Named by the show as the competition alongside traditional credit cards; Levchin declines to throw shade and answers with Affirm's growth and profitability instead)
Apple Pay (Affirm's card became loadable into it around a year ago; he says wallet growth is healthy and that offline is the big unlock)
ZT1 (Affirm's innovation lab, which he glosses as zero to one, and where the in-store work is being done)
Get the latest market chatter and takes as they happen:
X | Threads | Instagram | YouTube | TikTok | Facebook