Affirm Holdings, a provider of buy now, pay later (BNPL) financing, has begun a pilot program that allows tenants to use BNPL services to split their monthly rent payments into two equal installments without interest or hidden fees.
Affirm is working in partnership with financial technology platform Esusu. Renters who qualify can break up what is typically a single monthly rent charge into two smaller payments. The payment plan will help tenants align more closely with pay periods, Affirm said in a statement to Fox Business. Affirm is thoroughly assessing the success of the pilot to hopefully provide widespread relief to its customers.
“We’re approaching this use case thoughtfully and evaluating it alongside Esusu, which shares our focus on clear, consumer-first financial tools,” Affirm wrote in its statement.
The program is intended to offer tenants more flexibility in managing one of their largest monthly expenses. Affirm’s BNPL rent option, which initially is available to a subset of users in a pilot phase. does not charge interest and does not apply late fees or compound interest as long as payments are made on schedule. Some observers say expanding BNPL options into housing costs could change how consumers budget for essential monthly bills.
Affirm already offers BNPL plans for general purchases that allow shoppers to pay for goods and services over time rather than upfront. Those plans, often marketed as “pay in four,” have become increasingly common at online checkouts and in retail stores.
As BNPL products expand into new areas such as rent, consumers should understand that these options still involve taking on credit obligations. Industry data shows that although BNPL accounts were once excluded from standard credit scoring models, changes are underway that could integrate BNPL repayment performance into consumer credit assessments.
In 2024, BLACK ENTERPRISE reported on BNPL companies, like Affirm, partnering with credit scoring company FICO. Many are updating their scoring formulas to include information from BNPL products. Beginning with new models such as Score 10, BNPL loan data may be factored into credit scores. The new model will make on-time payments potentially beneficial and missed payments harmful for borrowers.
The evolution means BNPL users may soon see their rent or retail BNPL payment histories influence their overall credit profiles. Historically, BNPL activity was not widely reported to credit bureaus, leaving a “blind spot” that the updated scoring models aim to address.
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