Affirm Gets $100 Million Lending Facility From Morgan Stanley

Affirm, the company started by PayPal Cofounder Max Levchin to deliver financial products to consumers, announced last week it has obtained a $100 million lending facility from Morgan Stanley. On pace to more than triple its year-over-year loan volume, Affirm will leverage the facility to continue its expansion of consumer-friendly point-of-sale financing at leading online and offline retailers, the company said in a press release.

Affirm offers consumers an alternative to traditional credit with a straightforward, transparent loan product that enables consumers to pay for purchases over time. Affirm uses proprietary technology to verify identity and assess credit risk in seconds by utilizing more sources of information than conventional FICO models, enabling it to provide financing to a broader set of consumers.

Affirm partners with over 750 merchants to give shoppers the flexibility to buy now and make monthly payments for their purchases. Unlike credit cards with compounding interest and unexpected costs, Affirm customers know upfront exactly what they’ll pay — with no hidden fees and no surprises.

The move on the part of Morgan Stanley to provide financing to Affirm comes at a time when traditional Wall Street firms are getting into the personal lending market. Goldman Sachs last week announced Marcus by Goldman Sachs, an online platform offering unsecured personal loans to consumers. Named after Marcus Goldman, one of the firm’s founders, Marcus by Goldman Sachs is a new business that Goldman Sachs said benefits from the firm’s 147-year history of financial expertise, risk management and customer service.

In a press release, Goldman Sachs said Marcus provides consumers with a transparent and simple approach to consolidate their high-interest credit card debt. At Marcus.com, creditworthy borrowers can apply for fixed-rate, no-fee personal loans of up to $30,000 for periods of two to six years.