Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Affirm Holdings Inc. early Monday widened banks’ access to its buy now, pay later loan programs for debit card holders through a deal with Fiserv Inc. The deal will enable banks on the Fiserv network to integrate Affirm’s pay-over-time solution into their debit card programs via their digital-banking and mobile-app platforms.
Affirm rolled out its debit solution in 2023 with the launch of the Affirm Card, a physical and virtual debit card that gives cardholders the option to either pay in full or request to pay over time using the Affirm app.
As part of its deal with Fiserv, debit card holders can request a pay-over-time loan in advance of a purchase through their financial institution’s mobile app. After the request is approved, it attaches to the bank customer’s debit card. The loan is activated when the cardholder uses her debit card to complete the purchase.
Debit cardholders can split eligible purchases into fixed payments with a clear repayment schedule and a defined end date.
“We are taking the Affirm Card model and making it available to banks [through partners such as Fiserv] to unlock new opportunities for pay-over-time loans,” an Affirm spokesperson tells Digital Transactions News. “The partnership gives us access to the banks in Fiserv’s network.”
For banks, the deal provides a scalable solution to keep transactions that might otherwise be lost to third-party BNPL providers “within their ecosystem, driving engagement and transaction growth,” Affirm adds. Affirm partners with nearly 420,000 merchants.
Affirm will handle the underwriting for the loans, loan origination, and funding, while Fiserv will integrate the solution into its platform. “This partnership makes it easier for banks to add a pay-over-time solution to their debit card programs since it will be available through Fiserv,” says the Affirm spokesperson.
The deal with Fiserv is not the first of its kind for Affirm. In early 2025, the BNPL provider struck a similar deal with FIS Inc. In a blog post about the FIS deal, Affirm Chief Revenue Officer Wayne Pommen said that for debit card issuers, having the ability to offer a BNPL solution “isn’t just about adopting new technology; it’s about meeting evolving cardholder needs and unlocking new avenues for growth.”
“This is a strategic way for financial institutions to remain top-of-wallet, address more transactions, and keep their cardholders’ spend within their ecosystem—leading to more engagement and higher revenue,” Pommen added.
