Affirm vs. SoFi: how they make money

• Borrowers (interest) · 48.1% of revenueShoppers repaying interest-bearing installment loans that Affirm holds.
• Merchants (fees) · 27.0% of revenueStores and brands paying a fee when Affirm helps them make a sale, plus fees for placements in the Affirm app.
• Investors buying loans (gain on sale) · 14.0% of revenueGains when Affirm sells loans to investors through loan sales and forward-flow agreements (standing deals to buy loans).
• Card networks (card fees) · 6.9% of revenueMerchants pay an interchange fee on each Affirm Card or virtual card purchase; card-issuing banks share part of it with Affirm.
• Loan owners (servicing fees) · 4.1% of revenueFees for collecting payments on loans that Affirm sold to others.

• Borrowers and loan buyers (Lending) · 48.1% of revenueInterest on personal, student and home loans, plus gains and fair-value changes when loans are valued or sold.
• Members and partners (Financial Services) · 40.1% of revenueThe spread on members' deposits, credit card interest, card interchange, brokerage, and Loan Platform Business fees from partner lenders.
• Companies using its software (Technology Platform) · 11.7% of revenueBanks, fintechs and other companies paying Galileo and Technisys fees, mostly on multi-year contracts.

Not on the Affirm page.

FY2025

Debt

$10.3B

Cash and investments

$3.0B

On Sep 30, 2026.

Most of Affirm's $10.26 billion of debt at Sep 30, 2026 funds its loans: securitization notes and funding debt were $9.13 billion, against $10.11 billion of loans held for investment.

Not on the SoFi page.

• 2 classes of shares (votes per share: Class A common stock 1, Class B common stock 15).
• Max Levchin (founder, CEO and chair): 65.4% of its class, 44.0% of votes (as of Sep 30, 2026).
• Shopify Inc.: 25.0% of its class, 17.9% of votes (as of Sep 30, 2026).
• Capital World Investors: 7.8% of its class, 2.6% of votes (as of Sep 30, 2026).
• 4 more holders on the Affirm page.

• One class of shares.
• Officers and directors as a group: 2.5% of shares (as of Apr 20, 2026).
• The Vanguard Group: 6.4% (as of Feb 13, 2024).
• Vanguard Capital Management: 5.3% (as of Apr 30, 2026).
• BlackRock, Inc.: 5.1% (as of Apr 27, 2026).
• 1 more holders on the SoFi page.

• Borrowers who do not repay (other)Provision for credit losses rose 59% to $259.4 million in Q1 FY2027 from $162.8 million a year earlier, while revenue rose 35%. The 30+ day delinquency rate on monthly installment loans (excluding Peloton) was 2.9% in Q1 FY2027, against 2.8% a year earlier. FY2026 provision was $796.7 million and net charge-offs $611.6 million, 7.4% of average loans held for investment (Cityfort calculation from the FY2026 10-K).
• Funding markets and interest rates (liquidity)Affirm funds loans with warehouse lines, securitizations and loan sales, not deposits. Funding costs were $454.0 million in FY2026 and $134.4 million in Q1 FY2027. Its Nov 5, 2026 outlook assumes short-term benchmark rates rise in FY2027.
• Competition at checkout (competition)Affirm's 10-K says the pay-over-time industry has low barriers to entry, and its offers increasingly appear next to rivals' at checkout. Card issuers, PayPal, Block, Klarna and merchants' own plans compete for the same purchases.
• Founder voting control (governance)Class B shares carry 15 votes each. Max Levchin held 44.04% of the votes on Sep 30, 2026, and directors and executive officers together 46.31%. Affirm's 10-K says the dual-class structure concentrates voting control with Class B holders.
• Stock pay and partner warrants (other)Stock-based pay was $304.7 million in FY2026, and warrant expense under commercial agreements another $192.3 million. Amazon holds a warrant to buy up to 15,000,000 Class A shares. Diluted shares rose 23.8% from FY2022 to FY2026.
• Lawsuits (legal cases)A securities class action, dismissed with prejudice on Sep 30, 2025, is on appeal at the Ninth Circuit; it alleged misleading statements about the business model's exposure to interest rates. Related derivative suits are stayed. Affirm said estimable losses from its legal proceedings would not have a material adverse effect on its finances.

• Personal-loan losses (other)Personal loans were $32.1 billion of SoFi's fair-value loans at Sep 30, 2026. Their net charge-offs were 2.26% of average balances in Q3 FY2026, or about 3.4% by SoFi's own estimate counting delinquent loans it sold.
• Fair-value assumptions (other)About 96% of loans are valued at fair value using SoFi's own inputs, such as a 5.10% annual default rate and a 5.56% discount rate for personal loans at Sep 30, 2026. Changes in those inputs move noninterest income.
• Interest rates and deposit costs (pricing)Interest-bearing deposits averaged $48.6 billion at a 3.07% rate in Q3 FY2026. The CEO said on Oct 27, 2026 that the original 2026 guidance assumed two rate cuts, and instead there had been one rate hike.
• More shares (other)Shares outstanding rose from 1,095.4 million at the end of FY2024 to 1,297.8 million at Oct 30, 2026, mostly from $3.2 billion of stock sold in 2025; stock-based compensation was $262.1 million in FY2025.