Affirm CEO expects AI shopping agents to favor 0% loans

Levchin, the CEO of Affirm, said on 5 November 2026 that 0% loan volume can go up a lot when AI agents shop. He gave no data for this view. Affirm gives installment loans for purchases. Revenue rose 35% to $1.3 billion in the quarter. But shares fell 9% after hours, and late US loan balances rose to 2.9%.

How it works

About 1 million items in the Affirm app have offers that a brand pays for. A maker pays for a 0% loan on one item that a retailer sells. Levchin said these tools could let a seller agent make such an offer to a shopper agent.

The numbers

• Loan volume rose 34% to $14.4 billion.
• Balances that are 30 days late or more rose 0.35 points from June.
• Levchin blamed most of this on the season.

Affirm gave no data that shows agents prefer 0% loans. This is the expectation of Levchin.

What is not known

Levchin said AI shopping can be messy. Agents can buy things that customers did not want, and fraud is a risk. Levchin did not say who pays for fraud by an agent.

Insight: Agent payments wait for a rule on who pays for fraud

In October 2026, Citigroup said it does not let third-party AI agents use customer accounts. The CEO of Extend said each agent purchase needs user approval. Levchin leaves fraud liability open. This reads as a race for the agent checkout. The party that takes the fraud loss can set the rules. Look for the first lender that takes it.