r/Affirm • u/Rdizzle5 • 22d ago
Affirm tanked my credit score 37 points
Each individual loan is reported to credit bureaus. I paid off all of the plans (9) I had with them and my score tanked. Better off getting a personal loan or using a credit card. Posting for awareness.
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u/Reasonable_Shine_841 22d ago
Actually if your score tanked it’s due to credit mix. You need another loan on your report. I would do a Self loan so you are actually saving money for yourself vs buying stuff you don’t need to add to your credit mix
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u/No_Barracuda_3758 22d ago
How do u do a self loan?
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u/annarich310 22d ago
Google “self loan”. It’s a credit builder loan where you “pay” a certain amount of money to Self. They hold it for a fee, and after a couple of years, when the “loan” is paid off, you get the money back. Minus their total fees. I am “paying” $25/mo for mine.
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u/GreedyHawk2739 22d ago
If they have navy federal and pledge loan would work too... I dont know if they do or anyone else curious.. you get one pay 92% of it and get that money back in 24 hours usually... and then your next payment wont be due until almost a few months before the loan is almost paid off... gives you all those months or years depending on loan to look like you are making payments helps alot with credit as well
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u/Upset_Pop4341 22d ago
Yea never heard of that before
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u/Legitimate_Archer988 22d ago
It’s literally an app called SELF, the first result that pops up if you type “credit builder loan” into Google. There’s lots of apps that do this same thing.
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u/No-Time1596 19d ago
I cancelled Self because someone hacked the account. And Self would not take it off!!!
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u/Lexi_Love_ 22d ago
Mine are always reported as BNPL loans which don't affect credit.
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u/Gold_Pattern_2349 21d ago
I agree. Comes up bnpl for me. Never affects my score and I have lots. And I was approved for an amex with like 12 on there.
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u/iLukeJoseph 21d ago
Oh no they do. May not affect the score, but lenders do not like seeing BNPL on credit reports. Credit profile>Credit Score.
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u/Lexi_Love_ 21d ago
Bnpls can only show up as a reported item that affects the score when you go past due over 30 days/ defaulted or settled with them.
I have plenty of BNPL's and not a single one touches my credit like i said.
I dont recieve inquiries, they don't actually link to my credit, cuz if they did. Most people's credit would be in the trash bc theyre easy to pay off.
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u/Whybotherbroski 22d ago
Great credit score means keep having sustained loans like a car and home. Mine tanked a bit because I paid off my car.
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u/Responsible-Yam9184 21d ago
i had this happen many times, each month i would get 1/2 points after paying off a loan, it would sky rocket like 50 points then few month later lower 50+ points then few months later sky rocket again then fall. i also seem to get punished if i return an item to amazon or seller issues a refund after 6 months and somehow effects my credit history that it fell off? like how is that my fault should be good i got a refund.
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u/TineCalo 21d ago
I’ve made several Affirm loans and paid them off. My credit score jumped by approximately 40points. My past loans all show closed and paid in full.
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u/Mysterious-Ad2006 21d ago
From what ive seen you need 12months or longer loan. Make all the payment. The short 3 and 6month loans make your total credit history length shorter and looks bad kn your report.
Also looking at my report it says the affrim loan dont yet effect your credit report
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u/DistributionNormal65 21d ago
Yes you have to have a 12 month loan. I got a micro loan from my bank for $500 I guess it was 0% interest but I had to pay $50 a month for 10 months, I even asked if I could pay $37.50 make it a 12 month loan they wouldn't do it. I paid it back it didn't help with my bank and never showed up on my credit report that I ever got a loan. So yes you have to make 12 on time payments for it to help or affect your credit score.
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u/Curious_Crazy_7667 21d ago
Depends on the bank or credit union. Navy Federal had their own internal scoring system and even cycling share secured loans can boost your internal score.
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u/tat2ricky 22d ago
It’s done nothing but help mine, but I wait till it’s paid down and get something else. That with a credit card has done a lot to help.
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u/DistributionNormal65 21d ago
I have a card and account I never use it. They do offer me more on different sites like Samsung which my friend does use it and uses it there and has Samsung credit as well. It has helped his credit but he pays it down but before it hits 0 he gets the new watch or something.
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u/Small-Management-763 21d ago
When I closed my Affirm account (primarily because of the monthly fee) AFTER paying off all my loans from them- they reported a closed account with an outstanding balance.
It has been almost a year, and I’m still trying to clear that up… my score dropped over 120 points - and their PR people (the ones who reply to ratings, especially in the App Store) just outright implied I was lying. Refused to look into it, but saved face by lying to anyone reading that they “reached out and resolved the misunderstanding the customer had”
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u/Alternative_Ebb7135 20d ago
Had something similar happen to me. Was using Affirm regularly then paid everything off at once. Score dropped like 30 points and stayed down for months. Ended up doing a credit builder loan through Fig Loans instead to get things moving again.
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u/No-Golf-1645 18d ago
I have $709 total remaining across three loans. Once that is finished I am done with Affirm. Then it’s off to paying down my $423 with Lending Club.
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u/snarkysharky03 21d ago
it’s so weird it didn’t show on my credit for a personal loan but SO many others are claiming it did affect their credit so at this point, I think it’s safe to play it smart and just not use them altogether
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u/MooseNatural1269 22d ago
It's artificial though for the most part. Lenders are going to look at your profile. There aren't really a lot of things that just go "you must be this high", you might run into a few old school lenders that operate that way, but for the most part it's not like that. Those changes aren't necessarily going to reflect across the board anyway. You might not even be looking at something that's showing a true reflection. Different types of lenders use different FICO models. It's also that you're opening up new lines of credit and then closing them. No one is going to look at your list of small affirm BNPL loans as problematic. At the worst they might consider that you could suddenly laden yourself with a few monthly payments that they aren't considering if you're right at the margin, but if they were already willing to consider you it's probably not going to take you out.
Think of your credit score as more of a range. Over 700 in most cases you're in the club. If you're high sevens or 800s, you're royalty, but anything over 700 is going to be enough in almost every scenario. Once you're in the 600s it's a little more dynamic. It's going to depend on your file. In some cases a 630 might be in better standing than a 660. There are a lot of different things to be considered.
And this won't be cumulative. It's not like you'll see your score go down 30 more if you keep using avant. You'll probably see it inch back up even if you open new loans with them
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u/iLukeJoseph 21d ago
No lots of lenders do see them as problematic. They come across like the individual is bad at managing money. It's been a top for a bit now over at the credit sub. They can actually be a reason on an adverse action response/letter, such as when one gets denied for a credit card/loan etc..... I don't recall exactly the wording, but it is something along the lines of "presence of consumer finance accounts"
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u/MooseNatural1269 21d ago
Yeah, if they're open.
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u/iLukeJoseph 21d ago
Nope the fact that you opened/used it. So even when closed/paid off it can have a negative effect.
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u/ranjen617 21d ago
Yeah, on one hand they say they are not affecting anyone but on the other they are. I'm just letting them do whatever on my credit file. It's the VantageScore not the FICO being affected. They are good for what they are and mine are 0% ones much better than cards, so I'm good with it.
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u/Disastrous-choices 21d ago
I have Affirm Loans, Klarna,Sezzle, and PayPal bi weekly and monthly and I still get approved for cards.I prefer to use them because of the 0% interest My partner's score is higher than mine and somehow I get approved for cards he doesn't! Go figure. I got a secured card and rebuilt my credit that way. My BNPL aren't usually what have a negative effect for me. Usually it's the fact that I don't have a mortgage or a car loan.
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u/SMITHZAC000 21d ago
Every time you pay off a loan your score will initially drop then slowly increase past what it was before the loan was paid off. Nothing to do with Affirm, more so to do with just how credit scores are processed.
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u/Particular-Ad-3931 21d ago
Idk why that would matter. The score matters less than what's actually in your credit history. Scores just a number
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u/Enough-Reindeer1033 21d ago
It won't stay down for long. Paying off debt is an extremely good thing.
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u/ALysistrataType 21d ago
Yeah apparently it changed this year, theyre reporting loans but everytime you pay off ANY loan your score drops, this isnt new.
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u/Iknowstuff35 21d ago
It generally doesn’t affect it long term it should go back up within a month or two
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u/OneJob4441 21d ago
Unfortunately, I was in a place with my Credit that I was chasing to get it to the highest score because what I know now I didn’t know back then .. so my credit is important but it’s also I through my hands up. I just pay my bills on time and that and that’s it secondly, Credit scores are like roller coasters. There gonna always go up and then they’re always gonna go down. You pay something off your credit score goes down. you pay a couple cards off your credit score goes down. It’s always gonna be up and down up and down up and down and whatever is it will be.
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u/d9c3l 17d ago
Affirm doesn’t affect credit reports like you think (as long as there is no negative history). While it doesn’t factor into the score right now, creditors can still see it and use that as a factor. If your score accurately went down, that is common when a loan (or possibly BNPL) is paid off since there is no active credit mix of loans, etc. Not that it’s a bad thing though
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u/AngryKhakis 22d ago
Your score isn’t dropping 37 points cause some loans closed. If anything it would have dropped from them being on your credit.
What shows the drop the actual FICO score or some free model like vantage which may treat them differently than the scoring model financial institutions actually use.
I also don’t get why people care about slight credit score drops so much, credit scores are designed to fluctuate and you really only need to care about maximizing it when going for a mortgage.
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22d ago
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u/Rdizzle5 22d ago
I understand that but to have to deal with a score change after paying off each individual loan is not ideal.
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22d ago
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u/Rdizzle5 22d ago
That would be the case if affirm reported a revolving line of credit and not individual loans.
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u/Helpful-Peach-1996 22d ago
You said it yourself though. "Each individual loan". Because they are separate loans.
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u/Dull-Desk-9234 19d ago
Your score will drop for a little bit after you pay off anything. Its not Affirm doing it, its that banks of any kind want you to be in debt. Its the ratio! Check your credit thru your personal bank. I guarantee its not affirm doing it.
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u/CasualObserver6969 18d ago
It’s most likely something else, those doesn’t effect your score unless they go into collections.
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u/FoxxyTiger118 18d ago
Interesting because this has never happened to me and I use affirm all the time. I think you need to look again and see if it was something else.
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u/Accomplished_Swan670 22d ago
Yeah I stopped using them last year they swore it wouldn’t mess with credit age now look