Affirm launched its pay-over-time options in the United Kingdom.
The company will initially offer its interest-free and interest-bearing monthly payment options, with any interest applied being fixed and calculated solely on the original principal amount, Affirm said in a Monday (Nov. 4) press release emailed to PYMNTS.
There are no late fees or hidden charges, the release said, adding that nearly one-quarter of users of buy now, pay later (BNPL) solutions in the U.K. were charged late fees in 2023.
“We know that U.K. consumers are savvy shoppers who appreciate upfront, no-nonsense products,” Affirm founder and CEO Max Levchin said in the release. “We look forward to offering them responsible credit options that truly put consumers first and working collaboratively with our U.K. partners to demonstrate how honest finance is good business.”
Affirm already operates in the United States and Canada, and it has processed over $75 billion in transactions in those countries over the past five years, according to the release.
In the U.K., the company is launching with flight booking site Alternative Airlines and FinTech and payments processor Fexco. It expects more U.K. and international brands to follow, the release said.
Alternative Airlines customers can select Affirm at checkout and, if approved, choose a monthly payment plan for their flight purchases, per the release.
Sam Argyle, managing director of Alternative Airlines, said in the release: “Consumers demand payment choice, flexibility and transparency at checkout, and Affirm delivers all three.”
Fexco’s international clients with a U.K. presence can integrate Affirm and offer it to their customers at checkout, according to the release.
Brian Cleary, CEO of Fexco OpenConnect, said in the release that Affirm’s “customizable terms and steadfast commitment to never charging late and hidden fees, like compound interest, ensure that our partners can fully benefit from Affirm’s consumer-centric approach.”
It was reported in January that 22% of British BNPL users, and 34% of those between the ages of 18 and 24, were charged late fees in the six months leading to December 2023.
In October, the U.K. government said it aims to provide BNPL users with many of the protections provided by other consumer credit products.
Job cuts in government, technology and retail led the way as U.S. employers announced the largest number of cuts in one month since May 2020.
Among the 275,240 job cuts announced in March, 216,215 were in government, 15,055 were in technology and 11,709 were in retail, Challenger, Gray & Christmas said in a report released Thursday (April 3).
“Job cut announcements were dominated last month by Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) plans to eliminate positions in the federal government,” Andrew Challenger, senior vice president and workplace expert for Challenger, Gray & Christmas, said in the report. “It would have otherwise been a fairly quiet month for layoffs.”
The total number of job cuts made in March was more than three times the 90,309 cuts announced in March 2024, according to the report.
By sector, compared to March 2024, government job cuts were almost six times higher, technology cuts were about 6% higher and retail cuts were nearly twice as high, per the report.
All the government job cuts made in March occurred in the federal government, the report said.
The top reason employers gave for cutting jobs in March was “DOGE impact,” which was cited for 216,670 of the month’s cuts, according to the report.
Other common reasons included store, unit or department closing, to which 17,666 job cuts were attributed, and market/economic conditions, which accounted for 11,594 cuts, per the report.
Challenger, Gray & Christmas also said in the report that employers are planning to hire fewer workers than they were a year ago. Companies’ hiring plans dropped by about 37%, from 21,102 in March 2024 to 13,198 in March 2025, according to the report.
The specter of uncertain job security may accelerate a spending pullback that is already in motion, PYMNTS reported Wednesday (April 2). Consumer confidence that was already shaken may have been further impacted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ latest snapshot of the labor market released Tuesday (April 1), which found that the labor market slowed in February, with a decline in job openings over the past year.
The Conference Board reported March 25 that consumer confidence slipped for the fourth straight month in March, due in part to a plunge in consumers’ short-term outlook for income, business and labor market conditions.
