Federal employees are losing shopping interest
Confirm The buy now, pay later firm hasn’t seen credit stress among federal employee borrowers due to the government shutdown, but there are signs of a shift in shopping habits, CEO Max Levchin said Friday.
“We’re just seeing a very slight loss and a few basis points in shopping interest for this group,” Levchin told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”
At least 670,000 federal employees have been furloughed because of the shutdown, and about 730,000 are working without pay. Bipartisan Policy Center he said this week.
Levchin said he is closely monitoring employment data for signs of major disruptions but that the company has the “ability” to adjust credit standards if necessary.
“Things are pretty good right now,” he said. “We’re not seeing any major disturbances whatsoever.”
The federal funding cut, which began Oct. 1, was the longest in U.S. history and halted interagency work, affecting those other than public employees. The SNAP food assistance program, which serves 42 million Americans, was also cut.
Levchin’s comments followed profit for the first quarter of the fiscal year A report that beat Wall Street’s forecasts. Affirm reported earnings of 23 cents per share and revenue of $933 million. Analysts surveyed by LSEG expected earnings of 11 cents per share on sales of $883 million.
Revenues increased 34% year over year, while gross product volumes increased 42% year over year to $10.8 billion, up from $7.6 billion. This surpassed Wall Street’s estimate of $10.38 billion.
The fintech company, which went public in 2021, also raised its full-year outlook and said it expects gross product volume to rise to $47.5 billion, compared to the previous forecast of $46 billion.
Affirm also stated that it has renewed its partnership with. Amazon The company has also signed agreements with companies such as: Shopify And Apple In a competitive e-commerce environment.
long term partner Walmart Swedish buy now, pay later firm recently abandoned idea KlarnaIt went public in September after postponing its IPO due to market uncertainty stemming from President Donald Trump’s tariff plans. Concerns about a pullback in discretionary spending due to tariffs have sparked fears in the fintech sector.
Levchin said interest in categories such as ticketing and travel has increased and consumer shopping remains strong. The number of active consumers increased to 24.1 million from 19.5 million a year ago.
“Every day we preach the gospel of buy now, pay later, there’s a better way to buy, and consumers are clearly responding to that,” he said.
Affirm shares rose 11.6% on Friday.
