Consumer complaint received 2024-10-23
Product: Payday loan, title loan, personal loan, or advance loan — Installment loan
Issue: Problem when making payments — 
Company: Affirm Holdings, Inc (NY)

I am writing to formally lodge a complaint against Affirm regarding the mishandling of refunds and improper loan management. 

On two separate occasions, I purchased headlights from XXXX, both of which were returned due to issues with the products. The first purchase was made on XX/XX/XXXX and totaled {$560.00}, for which I made an initial payment of {$57.00}, and a loan was initiated through Affirm. Upon receiving the headlights, I found that they were not as described, so I returned them and used a second loan through Affirm to purchase a different set of headlights on XX/XX/XXXX, this time totaling {$1000.00}. This resulted in two open loans with Affirm, which should have been resolved once my refunds were processed. 

XXXX issued the refund for the first purchase of {$560.00} on XX/XX/XXXX, and I received confirmation from both XXXX and Affirm. However, Affirms email indicated that if I did not select which loan to apply the refund to, it would automatically be applied to the loan with the highest interest rate. When I followed the link in the email to choose the appropriate loan, I was repeatedly met with an error page stating : Oops! We can't find the page you're looking for. Did you want to view your loans or get a virtual card? You can also see our FAQ for help. 

I attempted to resolve this using multiple browsers and devices, but the same error occurred each time. Assuming the email was sent in error, I waited for the refund to be applied. However, when the refund was processed, it was applied to the larger, second loan, leaving me with two active loans. I contacted Affirm and requested that the refund be applied to the correct loan. I was informed that once a refund was applied, it could not be reversed and that I should have called in if I encountered issues with the email link. Frustrated, I chose to pay off the remaining balance on the larger loan ( {$1000.00} ) to avoid paying interest on two loans simultaneously. 

Shortly after, I was informed by my technician that the second set of headlights ( which cost {$1000.00} ) was defective. I initiated a return with XXXX and received confirmation of the refund on XX/XX/XXXX. Again, Affirm sent an email with the same instructions, and once more, I encountered the same error message when attempting to follow the link. This time, I called Affirm directly. The representative I spoke to was unhelpful and seemed confused by the issue. After a second attempt, I spoke with another representative who acknowledged that something was wrong and escalated my case to a different department. 

Since then, I have been given the runaround by Affirm. Despite multiple follow-ups, I have not received any communication from the department handling my case. On XX/XX/XXXX, I received my second refund from XXXX, but Affirm has still not applied the refund correctly. As a result, I have not received any funds for the proper amount of the refund and I am still being charged for an open loan that should have been closed as of XX/XX/XXXX, had Affirm applied the refund correctly or if the email link functioned properly. 

I am now missing a substantial amount of money that should have been refunded to me, and I continue to make payments on a loan that should no longer exist. I respectfully request that this matter be investigated and resolved promptly.