Consumer complaint received 2025-02-25 00:00:00
Product: Payday loan, title loan, personal loan, or advance loan — Installment loan
Issue: Charged fees or interest you didn't expect — 
Company: Affirm Holdings, Inc
State: VA

Complaint narrative:
I have been a customer of Affirm Holdings , Inc., XXXX XXXX  ), an American technology company that provides financial services for shoppers and merchants. They offer small loans for moderate purchases where the consumer can pay the amount borrowed in installments for purchases instead of all at once. I have had a very good relationship and been in perfect standing with this company since XXXX. I have taken out a total of 22 small loans ranging from {$110.00} to {$1200.00}. I have fully paid off 13 of these loans on time or in advance and still have 9 more that are open and for which I have made all payments on time. I plan to continue paying all of the valid loans until they are paid in full as per the terms of the loans. This last XXXX in XXXX I noticed a fraudulent charge on my account and a loan in the amount of {$300.00} show up in my account which I did not authorize. I had never heard of the retailer ( It's a XXXX - an online haircare retailer ). I contacted Affirm to alert them that I did not recognize the purchase, nor did I authorize it, nor did anyone else have access to my computer or account, and no one had permission to do so. I obtained a police report and provided this to Affirm. I also contacted the retailer, " It's A 10 '', who was named as the recipient of the money provided in the loan and they confirmed that they did not see any charges in their system by me, no record of any purchase being done by me nor any record of the last four digits of the one-time credit card that was created in order to make the purchase. I provided all of this information to Affirm as well. Affirm stated that they would investigate the matter and provided me with a case number. After speaking with Affirm representatives on the phone on a few different occasions I was advised, finally, during a call on XX/XX/XXXX that they agreed that the charge was fraudulent, I would not be responsible for it and that Affirm would provide information to the credit agencies should my credit get hit with any negative hits if they were not able to alert the agencies in time and that I should not make any payments. Later the same day of my last phone call with them, I received an email from Affirm stating they completed their investigation and I would now be responsible for the charge and gave two reasons for their decision ( 1. my usage patterns observed in both disputed and previous loan ( s ) where the IP Address, device used, and purchasing pattern were identical., ( untrue, I do not have any identifiable usage patterns other than I use their service in the first place, they never provided the IP address or any device identifiers they claim the loan request came from ).

2. the multiple notifications and information you have received about the disputed loan ( s ), but failing to notify Affirm that this activity was unauthorized until a significant amount of time had passed. This reason is invalid as I made my first complaint less than 30 days after the loan fraudulent loan was created. 
Additionally, their subsequent responses completely contradicted what I had been told on the phone on XX/XX/XXXX so I responded to their email in an effort to escalate the issue and refute their decision. I also requested they review the recording of the phone calls I made and they have ignored this. I did NOT make the charge and I am NOT going to pay for anything I did not order or authorize. I am very upset that they have denied my request to have that charge removed from my account and the loan deleted and any reports to the credit agencies stopped or corrected. I also discovered in an online search that this company has had data breaches in the last year and is now being sued for not protecting their customers ' data. I believe this is what happened to me and they just don't was to do anything about it and are trying to get me to pay for something for which I am NOT responsible because it is easier for them to handle things in this manner rather than admitting either a data breach or fraud. I also contacted the third-party bank that is used to fund the loans and they said Affirm would need to handle any claims as they are the custodian of my data. Additionally, XXXX, our identity theft provider, also stated that Affirm would be the party responsible. The back-up email correspondence of my dispute, the supporting information from the retailer and a copy of the police report are attached. Letters to all of the credit bureaus as well as the Virginia Attorney General 's office are also being mailed today.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation