Consumer complaint received 2024-05-15
Product: Payday loan, title loan, personal loan, or advance loan — Installment loan
Issue: Problem with additional add-on products or services — 
Company: Affirm Holdings, Inc (FL)

I am writing to file a formal complaint against Affirm regarding their handling of a dispute and their facilitation of fraudulent activities. My experience with Affirm has been deeply troubling and has left me feeling exploited and disregarded as a consumer. 

It began XXXX XXXX message from an individual presenting what seemed like a legitimate work opportunity with no cost involved. I booked a " free demo call '' with XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX, a company purportedly offering sales and marketing education and training, with massive emphasis on the job placement offer ( see website : XXXX XXXX XXXX and " XXXX XXXX XXXX '' document ). During the initial XXXX  interview, which lasted approximately 6 hours, I encountered three individuals, including XXXX XXXX, the CEO of XXXX. Over the course of the interview, I was subjected to manipulative tactics designed to wear me down and pressure me into signing a refundable contract of a {$6000.00} deposit through Affirm and XXXX. Once XXXX XXXX received access to my screen via XXXX  share screen access, the entire process of creating credit accounts and applying for loans in my name occurred within minutes. This is mainly due to XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX ability too navigate Affirm, XXXX, and the merchant website, XXXX. The product was bought using my name and personal data, with XXXX XXXXXXXX XXXX email ( XXXX ), preventing my access to the XXXX account. This is the product that was purchased : XXXX XXXX XXXX After over a week of being ignored and misled by the company regarding the status of my appointments, I realized that they had no intention of honoring their commitments. This constituted a breach/misconduct in the contract under the " Payment '' section of the attached agreement ( s ), specifically : " A fully qualified appointment is known as one that has XXXX per month in monthly income minimum, one that is willing and able to invest based on the entry level questionnaire and one that shows up and completes the call. '' The inability of the company to show up to complete calls that would apply to my XXXX qualified appointments signified the fraudulent nature, illegitimacy of the contract, and non-performance of the company. 

I promptly disputed the XXXX and Affirm loans associated with the transactions on XX/XX/XXXX. XXXX XXXX issued me a refund on the same day, within hours, without the need for any direct interaction with a representative ( see documents ). However, my dispute with Affirm ( XXXX ) has still not received any attention with the dispute team. Despite speaking to XXXX different Affirm representatives since Friday XX/XX/XXXX, each interaction has been characterized by the same scripted response : " we are forwarding your concerns to the relevant team. '' My call interactions occurred on Friday XX/XX/XXXX, Saturday XX/XX/XXXX ( 2 calls ), Monday XX/XX/XXXX, and Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX. My emails sent to XXXX XXXX XXXX  were sent on Saturday XX/XX/XXXX and Tuesday XX/XX/XXXX. 

During each call I've made to Affirm support, I struggled to understand the representatives over the loud background noise of a packed call center. Their scripted responses offered no resolution or reassurance to my specified questions, leaving me feeling unheard and powerless as a consumer. No feedback was received even after I sent XXXX extra attachments depicting clear targeting of individuals based off Affirm purchasing power ( see files ). I fear that my Affirm dispute will not be treated like the XXXX dispute, even though both disputes were submitted with similar data and both funding platforms were used to purchase the exact same product. 

Affirm has shown a disturbing pattern of favoring scammers who leverage their platform for fraudulent activities. Companies like XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX XXXX and XXXX XXXX specifically target individuals based on their Affirm purchasing power, confident in Affirm 's lax approach to addressing fraudulent practices. There is evidence in the files of many instances of individuals being targeted based off credit score and purchasing power ( PP ). In fact, the CEO of XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX, boasted to me about his 100 % success rate in Affirm disputes, confident that Affirm would side with him.

This raises serious questions about Affirm 's complicity in facilitating fraud and their failure to protect consumers from exploitation. I urge the CFPB to investigate Affirm 's practices to hold them accountable for their role in perpetuating these fraudulent schemes. As a large nation-wide financial service, Affirm has certainly allowed for its platform to be used as a vessel for fraudulent activity. Specifically, Affirm is currently still allowing for XXXX XXXX XXXX to purchase the following product under the misinformed consent of individual lenders : XXXX XXXX XXXX There are many federal laws that the US government has in place that protect consumers from unfair and deceptive business practices that were violated by XXXX XXXX XXXX through Affirm 's platform , including the : Fair Credit Billing Act ( FCBA ), Electronic Fund Transfer Act ( EFTA ), and Consumer Financial Protection Act ( CFPA ), which serve to protect consumers from such deceptive practices. By failing to take prompt and decisive action against fraudulent merchants operating on their platform, Affirm is potentially violating these federal laws and jeopardizing the financial well-being of countless individuals.

During the time period of Affirm dispute XXXX I have constantly been harassed by more individuals from the companies XXXX XXXX XXXX, XXXX XXXX XXXX, and XXXX XXXX. They have used tactics such as writing new contracts, offering false payments, and spamming my phone number trying to get me to cancel my Affirm dispute. I strongly believe that all of this have easily been avoided if Affirm accepted my dispute and resolved it in a timely manner similar to XXXX. 

In conclusion, I urge Affirm to take immediate action to address my dispute and implement measures to prevent similar incidents in the future. There are many other people who are being taken advantage of on Affirms platform and they receive subpar help from the Affirim support team. As a consumer, I deserve better than to be ignored and taken advantage of through Affirm 's platform.