Amazon may soon allow its users to a buy-now-pay-later option that does not involve credit cards.
Affirm Holdings Inc. has announced that its flexible payment service will soon be available on Amazon.com. “Amazon and Affirm are testing with select customers now, and in the coming months, Amazon plans to make Affirm more broadly available to its customers,” the company said in its statement.
As a result of Amazon and Affirm's partnership, select Amazon customers now have the option to split the total cost of purchases of $50 or more into simple monthly payments by using Affirm. Approved customers are shown the total cost of their purchase upfront and will never pay more than what they agree to at checkout. As always, when choosing Affirm, consumers will not be charged any late or hidden fees.
“By partnering with Amazon we’re bringing the transparency, predictability and affordability that Affirm provides today to the millions of people who shop on Amazon.com in the U.S.,” said Eric Morse, Senior Vice President of Sales at Affirm. “Offering Affirm’s alternative to credit cards also delivers more of the payment choice and flexibility consumers on Amazon want.”
Earlier this month, digital payments company Square Inc. acquired Afterpay, which provides a buy-now-pay-later option for merchants.
Installment plans are popular with retailers because they encourage customers to spend more money. And they enable customers with insufficient funds or credit at the time of purchase to walk out of a store — or check out online — with the item they want.
