Levchin Touts ‘Network Effects’ as Affirm Card Volumes Surge 135%

Affirm opened fiscal 2026 with a first quarter marked by record volumes, profitable growth and an extended partnership with Amazon, which has now been given an additional five years (to January 2031).

Gross merchandise volume rose 42% to $10.8 billion, revenue increased 34% to $933 million, per company materials released after the bell on Thursday, Nov. 6. CEO Max Levchin noted that the growth had been supported by durable demand for transparent credit and 0% installment options.

Network Effects and Data Flywheel

In his shareholder letter, Levchin described Affirm as “a payment network … a multisided one” that is marked by “network effects” and the value of  transmitting “information-rich messages” that strengthen with scale. Each transaction improves Affirm’s models for credit, fraud and personalization, creating a feedback loop. The company has now processed more than 6 petabytes of data.

Direct-to-consumer gross merchandise volume (GMV) rose 53% to $3.2 billion, driven by a 135% increase in Affirm Card volume to $1.4 billion. In-store usage jumped 170%, and active cardholders grew by 500,000 to 2.8 million.

Levchin said on the conference call with analysts the product’s expansion has been deliberate and entirely organic: “We’ve spent no time marketing it outside Affirm repeat customers. … We’ve been very deliberate about opening it to many segments of our users. As we get more comfortable with our ability to underwrite everyone … we will continue marketing it to the general population.”

Levchin said Affirm’s tests of cash flow underwriting help expand access for “younger consumers and folks who are overlooked by the rest of the ecosystem,” particularly millennials and Gen Z borrowers who “typically refuse to borrow on credit cards” but want flexibility to finance everyday purchases.

Zero-percent installments remained a core growth engine. GMV from 0% APR monthly loans rose 74% as more than 40,000 merchants funded interest-free offers, up threefold year over year. CFO Rob O’Hare added that Affirm will “continue to lean in very heavily” to 0% programs because they reinforce the network’s value to both consumers and merchants.

Affirm’s merchant count grew 30% to 419,000, reflecting continued momentum across independent software vendors and payment service providers. Levchin said these channels accelerate distribution. Wallet partners contributed over $7 billion of GMV, up nearly 70%

Spending Broadly, Credit Holding

Levchin said consumer health remains sound. “Our consumer is borrowing, paying us back, shopping fairly healthily,” he said. He added that Affirm has been analyzing government employee repayments during the shutdown and “do not see any loss of repayment … delinquencies and defaults are just fine, in line with the rest of the general population.”  The earnings materials noted that all recent vintages of Pay in 4 loans are continuing to track to loss rates of less than 1% of GMV.

The shareholder letter showed active consumers up 24% to 24.1 million, and transactions per active consumer rising to 6.1 from 5.1 a year earlier. Average order values held steady between $160 and $270 as Affirm captured a larger share of everyday spend. Spending on general merchandise was up 24% in terms of GMV, and 38% for travel and ticketing.

Funding capacity rose to $26.6 billion, supporting more than $60 billion in annual GMV. For fiscal 2026, Affirm projects GMV above $47.5 billion.

Shares were up more than 11% in after-hours trading on Thursday night.