UPDATED ON JUNE 2024

US Marketing
Compliance Guide
Pay in 4

AFFIRM |2023

INTRODUCTION
The ﬁnancial services industry is heavily regulated, requiring all Afﬁrm and ourmerchant-led marketing to be vetted by our Marketing Compliance Department.
This guide focuses on the Pay in 4 program.
The purpose of this guide is to assist merchants in developing marketing assets thatcomply with regulatory standards. It offers detailed guidance on how to integrate
the necessary disclosures into various types of marketing materials, ensuring that all
marketing content meets legal requirements.

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AFFIRM |TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.

Messaging Afﬁrm Pay in 4

2.

Consumer Regulations
a. Unfair, Deceptive, or Abusive Acts or Practices (UDAAP)
b. Fair Lendingc. CAN-SPAM Act

3.

Disclosures 101
a. Social Posts
b. Digital Bannersc. Printed Signaged. Emailse. Landing Page

4.
5.

Industry Speciﬁc Compliance Supplement
Custom Marketing Assets

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AFFIRM |Messaging Afﬁrm Pay in 4
OK

NOT OK●

4 interest-free payments●

Monthly payments●

Payments every 2 weeks●

Risk-free●

Pay over time●

No money down; $0 down●

Payment options through Afﬁrm●

Instant approval●

No late fees●

0% APR●

Real-time decision●

Pay in 42024 2 0 2 3

AFFIRM |CONSUMER REGULATIONS

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AFFIRM |Unfair, Deceptive, or Abusive Acts
or Practices (UDAAP)
Unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts and practices (UDAAP) can lead to signiﬁcant harm for consumers,
damage their trust, and destabilize the ﬁnancial market. UDAAP aims to protect consumers frommisleading or deceitful practices.
To mitigate UDAAP risks in advertising, it's crucial to provide complete and understandable
information, maintain honesty, and avoid creating undue urgency.
While disclosures add context, they cannot compensate for false claims or omitted details. All claims
must be factually supported, and any promotions or rebates, including 0% APR offers, must be
honored.
Importantly, a company's intent is not a factor in regulatory assessments of misleading or harmful
practices.

AFFIRM |2023

Fair Lending
Fair Lending applies throughout a loan's lifecycle including advertising and prohibits discrimination in any
loan-related process. Merchant partners promoting Afﬁrm ﬁnancing must ensure their advertising doesn’t
dissuade anyone from applying and should not add extra criteria to the application process.
It's crucial to avoid targeting Afﬁrm ﬁnancing based on demographics like:●
Race/Ethnicity
●
Color
●
Religion●
National origin●
Sex (including sexual orientation or gender identity)●
Familial status/Marital Status●
Disability●
Age (provided the applicant has the capacity to contract)●
Income dependency on a public assistance program
Targeting criteria (including usage of look-a-like models) is subject to review by Afﬁrm Compliance.
Instructions for review can be found here.
AFFIRM |2023

CAN-SPAM Act
The CAN-SPAM Act governs commercial emails, including those promoting content on commercial
websites, and extends to business-to-business emails. Key compliance guidelines from the FTC include:●

Ensuring all header information is truthful and not misleading;●Accurately reﬂecting the email's content in the subject line;●

Clearly identifying the message as an advertisement;●

Current street address or P.O. Box registered with USPS;●

Providing a clear and easy opt-out option;●

Honoring opt-out requests promptly without requiring additional personal information;●

Maintaining responsibility for compliance even if email marketing is outsourced.

For more information, see Guidance for Marketing Emails in subsequent slides.
AFFIRM |2023

DISCLOSURES 101
Disclosures are statements that provide essential information to
consumers, clarifying or qualifying marketing claims to prevent
deception. They are necessary to ensure that all material facts about theﬁnancing program are presentented honestly, preventing consumers
from being misled by marketing content.

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AFFIRM |Applicable to All Marketing● Disclosures inform customers of actually available terms.
● They must meet a “clear and conspicuous” standard.
○ They must be legible—no one should have to squint to read them.
● Refer to subsequent slides for instances where a minimum font size isrequired.
○ Contrast text with background: this works well, but this does not.
● If disclosures are separate from the messaging they modify, tie the disclosure and themessaging together using one of the following methods:○ Hyperlink○ Reference text (“see footer for details”)○ Reference symbol (e.g., *,†)

● If using a reference symbol, the messaging ends with the reference symbol and thedisclosure begins with the same reference symbol.
AFFIRM |2023

DISCLOSURESFor Social Posts
Guidance is applicable to Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest.
Disclosures can be incorporated in the caption or text in-lay within the image.
“Clear and conspicuous” standard for text in-lay:○ Minimum font size: 10 point font (must be legible without squinting)○ Contrast text with background: this works well, but this does not.
Note : afﬁrm.com/disclosures does NOT need to be hyperlinked/clickable.
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AFFIRM |SOCIAL POSTS

Post

Shop Solstice and split your purchase into 4 interest free
payments every two weeks with Affirm! Subject to eligibility.
See lending terms at affirm.com/disclosures.

Sample Content:
Pay over time
Disclosure (caption):
Subject to eligibility. See lending terms at
afﬁrm.com/disclosures
Note : afﬁrm.com/disclosures does NOT need
to be hyperlinked/clickable.

AFFIRM |2023

Pay over time with Affirm

SOCIAL POSTS

Post w/ Redirect Link
Sample Content:
Pay over time
Caption includes tagging @afﬁrm
Redirect Link Options:

Merchant shop page
Merchant-Afﬁrm co-branded landing page●●

Disclosure (caption):
Subject to eligibility. See lending terms at
afﬁrm.com/disclosures
Note : afﬁrm.com/disclosures does NOT need
to be hyperlinked/clickable.

AFFIRM |2023

Solstice We’re proud to partner with @affirm! Now you canpay over time with no interest, and never pay a single hidden
fee.
Subject to eligibility. See lending terms ataffirm.com/disclosures.

SOCIAL POSTS

Story w/ Redirect Link
Sample Content:
Buy Now, Pay Over Time

Buy Now,
Pay Over Time

Disclosure (text in-lay): Minimum 10 pt font
Subject to eligibility. See lending terms at
afﬁrm.com/disclosures
Note : afﬁrm.com/disclosures does NOT need to be
hyperlinked/clickable.
Redirect Link Options:●●

Merchant shop page
Merchant-Afﬁrm co-branded landing page
Subject to eligibility. See lending terms ataffirm.com/disclosures

AFFIRM |2023

SOCIAL POSTS

Video Post
Sample Content:
Buy Now, Pay Over Time
Disclosure Visibility and Timing:
Disclosures should remain visible at thevideo's bottom for a sufﬁcient duration,
calculated based on a reading speed of 3
words per second, to be easily read by areasonable viewer.
Disclosure (text in-lay): Minimum 10 pt font
Subject to eligibility. See lending terms at
afﬁrm.com/disclosures

AFFIRM |2023

Buy Now,
Pay Over Time

Subject to eligibility. See lending terms ataffirm.com/disclosures

Context-speciﬁc Disclosures
Cart ﬂoor/ceiling, based on your ﬁnancing program with Afﬁrm (where applicable)●
Payments through Afﬁrm are not available for purchases [over/under] $[Insert cart ﬂoor/ceiling].
Where to ﬁnd more information about Afﬁrm (Optional)●
See afﬁrm.com/help for details.
For questions regarding, speciﬁc details of your ﬁnancing program, including payment terms, cart
ﬂoor/ceiling, etc. or promotional offers, email merchanthelp@afﬁrm.com.
For marketing assets that don’t follow existing marketing messaging and templates verbatim from theBusiness Resource Hub you must email the custom marketing asset(s) for review and approval. See
instructions here.

AFFIRM |2023

DISCLOSURESFor Digital (Web) Banners
Disclosures (text in-lay) within the image must be “clear and conspicuous”.
○ They must be legible—no one should have to squint to read them.
○ Contrast text with background: this works well, but this does not.

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AFFIRM |DIGITAL BANNER

BannerSample Content:
Pay over time
Redirect Link:

Merchant shop page●

Disclosure:
Subject to eligibility. See lending terms
at afﬁrm.com/disclosures
Note : afﬁrm.com/disclosures does NOT
need to be hyperlinked/clickable.

Subject to eligibility. See lending terms at affirm.com/disclosures.
AFFIRM |2023

Context-speciﬁc Disclosures
Cart ﬂoor/ceiling, based on your ﬁnancing program with Afﬁrm (where applicable)●
Payments through Afﬁrm are not available for purchases [over/under] $[Insert cart ﬂoor/ceiling].
Where to ﬁnd more information about Afﬁrm (Optional)●
See afﬁrm.com/help for details.
For questions regarding, speciﬁc details of your ﬁnancing program, including payment terms, cart
ﬂoor/ceiling, etc. or promotional offers, email merchanthelp@afﬁrm.com.
For marketing assets that don’t follow existing marketing messaging and templates verbatim from theBusiness Resource Hub you must email the custom marketing asset(s) for review and approval. See
instructions here.

AFFIRM |2023

DISCLOSURESFor Printed Signage
Disclosures within the image must be “clear and conspicuous”.
○ They must be legible—no one should have to squint to read them, and must be relative
to overall size of signage.
○ Contrast text with background: this works well, but this does not.

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AFFIRM |PRINTED SIGNAGE

Signage
Sample Content:
Pay over time
Sample Sign vs. Disclosure font size:
8 x 11 in sign & 10pt fontDisclosure:
Subject to eligibility. See lending
terms at afﬁrm.com/disclosures

Subject to eligibility. See lending terms at affirm.com/disclosures.
AFFIRM |2023

PRINTED SIGNAGE

Signage w/ QR CodeSample Content:
Buy Now, Pay Over Time
Sample Signage vs. Disclosure font size:

8 x 10 inches sign & 10pt font

BUY NOW,PAY OVER TIMEQR Code Destination:

Prequaliﬁcation page●

Disclosure:
Subject to eligibility. See lending terms at
afﬁrm.com/disclosures
Subject to eligibility. See lending terms ataffirm.com/disclosures.

AFFIRM |2023

Context-speciﬁc Disclosures
Cart ﬂoor/ceiling, based on your ﬁnancing program with Afﬁrm (where applicable)●
Payments through Afﬁrm are not available for purchases [over/under] $[Insert cart ﬂoor/ceiling].
Where to ﬁnd more information about Afﬁrm (Optional)●
See afﬁrm.com/help for details.
For questions regarding, speciﬁc details of your ﬁnancing program, including payment terms, cart
ﬂoor/ceiling, etc. or promotional offers, email merchanthelp@afﬁrm.com.
For marketing assets that don’t follow existing marketing messaging and templates verbatim from theBusiness Resource Hub you must email the custom marketing asset(s) for review and approval. See
instructions here.

AFFIRM |2023

DISCLOSURESFor emails

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AFFIRM |EMAILS - Pay in 4

Guidance for Marketing Emails
Email Disclosure Requirements : Emails with Afﬁrm messaging must include
disclosures as outlined on slides 28 and 29.
Subject Line and Sender’s Address : The subject line and sender address must be
accurate and not misleading.
Compliance and Opt-Out : Emails must adhere to CAN-SPAM regulations and provide aclear opt-out mechanism. Emails should not be sent to those who have opted out, with
opt-out requests honored within 10 days.
For email templates, refer to Business Resource Hub.

AFFIRM |2023

EMAILS - Pay in 4

Email Template
All emails must have the following:

SUBJECT LINE
Choose how you pay at your own pace!
PREHEADER
With Aﬃrm, split purchases into 4 interest-free payments every two weeks.
HEADER
Introducing a better way to pay

Subject Line●
Clearly reﬂects the intent of the email as anadvertisement
Preheader●
Consistent with subject line.
Disclosure (in footer of the email)●
Provides details about the actual terms
available to consumers
Unsubscribe Link●
Must provide consumers with an opt-out
optionMESSAGE
Hey, {{ﬁrst_name}}
We’re excited to partner with Aﬃrm, giving you the ﬂexibility to pay at your own pace. Next time you’re
shopping with us, just select Aﬃrm at checkout to make 4 interest-free payments every two weeks.

HERE’S HOW:
1.

Fill your cart. Select Aﬃrm at Checkout, then enter a few simple pieces of info for a real timedecision.

2.

Choose how to pay. Pick the payment plan you like best. You’ll never pay more than you agree
to up front. See footer for details.

3.

Pay over time. Make payments to aﬃrm.com or in the Aﬃrm app. You’ll get email and text
reminders.

Redirect link
Go shopping {link to your store}

Valid Physical Address●
Current street address or P.O. Box registeredwith USPS
For email templates, refer to Business Resource Hub.
AFFIRM |2023

FOOTER – DISCLOSURE
Payment options are offered by Affirm and are subject to an eligibility check. Options depend on yourpurchase amount, and a down payment may be required. CA residents: Loans by Affirm Loan Services, LLC
are made or arranged pursuant to a California Financing Law license. For licenses and disclosures, seeaffirm.com/licenses.
Unsubscribe
Valid Physical Postal Address

EMAILS - Pay in 4

Disclosure Levels
Use Level 1 when: Ad simply mentions Afﬁrm and/or ﬁnancing availability, does not
mention speciﬁc terms of credit, such as “4 payments” or “4 payments of $50 every 2
weeks”.
Use Level 2 when: Ad mentions Afﬁrm and/or ﬁnancing availability and mentions
speciﬁc terms of credit, such as “4 payments” or “4 payments of $50 every 2 weeks”.

AFFIRM |2023

EMAILS - Pay in 4

Disclosure Level 1
Criteria●
Marketing asset simply mentions Afﬁrm and/or ﬁnancing availability●
Marketing asset does not mention speciﬁc terms of credit, such as “4 payments” or “4payments of $50 every 2 weeks.”
Disclosure

Payment options through Afﬁrm are subject to an eligibility check, may not be
available everywhere and a down payment may be required. CA residents: Loans by
Afﬁrm Loan Services, LLC are made or arranged pursuant to a California Financing
Law license.
Unsubscribe Link●
Must provide consumers with an opt-out option
Valid Physical Address●
Current street address or P.O. Box registered with USPSAFFIRM |2023

EMAILS - Pay in 4

Disclosure Level 2
Criteria●
Marketing asset mention speciﬁc terms of credit, such as “4 payments” or “4 payments of $50
every 2 weeks”.
Disclosure

Payment options through Afﬁrm are subject to an eligibility check and may not be
available everywhere. Options depend on your purchase amount, and a down
payment may be required. CA residents: Loans by Afﬁrm Loan Services, LLC are madeor arranged pursuant to a California Financing Law license. For licenses anddisclosures, see afﬁrm.com/licenses.
Unsubscribe Link●
Must provide consumers with an opt-out option
Valid Physical Address●
Current street address or P.O. Box registered with USPSAFFIRM |2023

Context-speciﬁc Disclosures
Cart ﬂoor/ceiling, based on your ﬁnancing program with Afﬁrm (where applicable)●
Payments through Afﬁrm are not available for purchases [over/under] $[Insert cart ﬂoor/ceiling].
Where to ﬁnd more information about Afﬁrm (Optional)●
See afﬁrm.com/help for details.
For questions regarding, speciﬁc details of your ﬁnancing program, including payment terms, cart
ﬂoor/ceiling, etc. or promotional offers, email merchanthelp@afﬁrm.com.
For marketing assets that don’t follow existing marketing messaging and templates verbatim from theBusiness Resource Hub you must email the custom marketing asset(s) for review and approval. See
instructions here.

AFFIRM |2023

LANDING PAGE - Pay in 4

Disclosure for Landing Page
Payment options through Afﬁrm are subject to an eligibility check and may not be
available everywhere. Options depend on your purchase amount, and a down payment
may be required. CA residents: Loans by Afﬁrm Loan Services, LLC are made orarranged pursuant to a California Financing Law license. For licenses and disclosures,
see afﬁrm.com/licenses.
For Landing Page Templates, refer to Business Resource Hub.

AFFIRM |2023

Industry Speciﬁc Compliance
Supplement
Afﬁrm works with thousands of different businesses across various industries; some of them
may have additional requirements to market Afﬁrm accurately and in compliance withapplicable law. Consider the additional guidance if your business falls into one of theindustries listed below:

AFFIRM |●Alcohol●

Healthcare & Elective Medical●

In-home sales

2023

Custom Marketing Assets
For marketing assets that don’t follow existing marketing messaging and templatesverbatim from the Business Resource Hub or offer limited time promotional ﬁnancing
plans, you must email the custom marketing asset(s) to merchanthelp@afﬁrm.com forreview and approval. See instructions here.
Other asset types that require individual review and approval:● SMS (text message)● Push notiﬁcations● Paid Search Terms● Press Releases● Radio/Streaming● TV/Commercials

AFFIRM |2023