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Key Takeaways
- Leading buy now, pay later provider Affirm has launched a service that splits rent into installments.
- While Affirm doesn’t charge interest, there is a monthly fee to facilitate the short-term loan.
- Other firms are also offering rent-splitting services, but a new report shows that in many cases, they are more expensive than credit card fees.
Need some flexibility with your monthly rent payment? There are now options to spread your rent payments out over the month. But using a rent-now, pay-later service comes with some costs, which can balloon if renters have trouble repaying the loan.
Affirm, one of the biggest Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) providers, has launched a pilot program with rent reporting firm Esusu that lets people split their rent payment into two installments. There are several other firms providing similar rent now, pay later services.
However, finance charges can quickly add up on these plans, as with other BNPL options.
Beware of Monthly Service Fees
While the Affirm plan advertises that it doesn’t charge interest, it’s not free to use. Consumers don’t access the service directly through Affirm: Instead, it’s offered through a partnership with Esusu, a company that lets users count their rent payments toward their credit scores.
Why This Matters to the Economy
The growth of rent now, pay later services reflects how high housing costs have become unmanageable for many Americans. Turning rent into installment debt effectively raises the cost of housing, which can squeeze consumer budgets, increase household debt, and reduce spending elsewhere in the economy.
Only users of Esusu’s Plus and Premium services, which cost $35 and $50 a month, respectively, can access Affirm’s rent-splitting tools. Applicants are also subject to a credit check, meaning Affirm may deny the service even to paying Esusu subscribers. In addition, their landlords have to work with Esusu. Finally, renters must apply for the loan each month, and they can only do so for an upcoming rent payment—not for future months.
As Housing Costs Soar, These Services Are Booming
There are a number of rent now, pay later services, and many of them are more expensive than simply paying rent with a credit card.
BNPL lender Zip has partnered with the PayRent service to allow renters to split their payments into four installments over six weeks. Zip advertises an annual interest rate of 31.11%. There’s also an installment fee that can reach $7.50, a late payment fee of $7 and a $2 fee to move the payment date.
Livble, a similar service, works with a variety of property management apps to offer split-payment options, with monthly finance charges of $30 to $40.
A company called Flex also lets renters split their payments and advertises it will work with any landlord, though the renter may have to ask their landlord to sign up for the service. It costs $14.99 a month to use it, along with a 1% bill payment fee and potentially a $3 ‘property passthrough fee’ from your landlord.
