Katapult vs Affirm: Which Is Better For You? [2024]

Katapult vs Affirm – Katapult and Affirm are Buy Now, Pay Later services that allow customers split their payments and pay over time.

Typically, you can view this option during the checkout process, or you can pay as you usually do by PayPal, debit card, or other preferred payment methods.

In this article, we’ll be talking about Katapult and Affirm that lets you pay off your purchase over a longer time with interest-free payments.

So, keep on reading to know about Katapult vs Affirm comparison clearly!

Katapult vs Affirm: Overview

Katapult: Katapult is built to automatically give you the best solution while focusing on what matters most to your business and products.

It says that even if you have bad credit or don’t have a credit history, it’ll still offer a simple, straightforward lease to own payment option to help you buy the items that you want from its top merchant and retailer partners.

In other words, it allows customers who do now qualify for traditional financing options and offer the ability to lease the products that they want.

You can buy products like appliances, automotive, electronics, furniture, musical instruments, mattresses, and more.

Affirm: Affirm functions as a financial lender of installment loans for users to use at the point of sale to finance a purchase.

These loans have a fixed payment schedule which you can view before the completion of each purchase. Although it charges interest, a few retailer’s interest rates are as low as 0% on your purchases.

Katapult vs Affirm: How Do They Work?

How Does Katapult Work?

Katapult has a quick application process, which is a 60-second application process with no credit needed. And it offers a fast approval process, tailored plans, transparent lease payment terms, and more.

It is associated with a wide range of good retailers around the United States, and even gives you marketing insights, and merchant support in industries like furniture, appliances, and electronics.

Once you are approved for the lease, you get the option to select the best monthly pay-over-time schedule, so that you can make your scheduled payments as they coordinate with your pay dates.

You don’t have to fill any long forms, and you’ll know instantly if you are approved. Note that you’ll need to make the recurring payments to Katapult with the option to pay off at any time.

However, the earlier you pay, the more you can save! That means if you want to pay off your lease in the first 90 days for just 5% over the cash price + your initial payment and applicable taxes.

How Does Affirm Work?

Once you open an account with Affirm, you will have to qualify some requirements and then, you’ll get a maximum purchase amount.

To make sure that you’re the person making the purchase, it sends a text message to your cell phone with a unique authorization code.

Once you enter the authorization code into the application form, it’ll notify you of the loan amount you’re approved for, the number of months you’ll have to pay off your loan, and the interest rate.

Generally, your spending limit is based on your payment history, credit history with Affirm, and how long you have the Affirm account for.

Yet your credit limit can be increased by some factors like how you’re managing your existing loans, paying bills on time, and reducing debt balances.

And every time you try to purchase something, that transaction needs Affirm’s approval.  At the checkout, you can view the payment options, which you can select depending on your budget.

You can choose the payment schedule that will be perfect for you and then confirm your loan. Note that your repayment options and APR will entirely depend on where you shop.

Katapult vs Affirm: How They Stack Up!

Maximum Limit

Katapult: It provides you with an available lease to own amount, which you can use to lease products once you are pre-approved.

You can view your available limit on the success page of your application, on your personal account page, and an email that Katapult sends upon approval.

Affirm: The maximum amount that you can access through Affirm is $17,500. This limit is based on your payment history, credit history with Affirm, and for how long you have the Affirm account.

Yet your credit limit can be increased by some factors like how you’re managing your existing loans, paying bills on time, and reducing debt balances.

Repayments

Katapult: Your first lease to own payment is always due at checkout. Then, the following payments are automatically charged to the card that you’ve provided at checkout.

If you want to make your payments manually, you can easily log in to your Kataput account and make your lease-to-own payments.

You can also pay off your early to keep more money in your wallet. And their flexible pay-over0time options coordinate with your pay dates. Thus, you can make payments whenever you have cash.

Not only that, but you can also contact their customer service by calling them at 833- KATAPULT (528-2785) if you need to update your account or payment information.

Affirm: While most of the repayment plans come under three categories – 3, 6, and 12-month plans, some transactions may have even more time period to pay off the purchase.

And if you want to pay off your loan early, you can pay without any prepayment penalty. Also, there is a possibility that you might have to make an initial payment at checkout if you don’t qualify for the complete loan amount.

Remember it will automatically withdraw the payments from your bank account or debit card. And there is no limit to how many loans you can access with an Affirm account at a time.

Interest & Fees

Katapult: Katapult’s lease-to-own program doesn’t charge any interest and will not be used to evaluate the lease payment. It states that these purchases are not credit transactions.

And as a customer, you are only entering into a lease purchase agreement to lease products with an option to own, by accessing an ‘Early Purchase Option’ or making all lease-to-own payments schedule in the lease purchase agreement.

However, it does consider a few factors when calculating the lease to own payment. These factors are the cash price of the product, the maximum term a customer can lease the product, the state in which the customer lives, and the city/state sales tax rate.

Affirm: Typically, interest rates are based on the retailers you are shopping with, and in some cases, your personal credit history. On Affirm’s website, you may find several retailers like Casper, Mirror, Rings, and Dyson, with financing as low as 0%.

Still, other purchases may charge interest rates may range from 10% to 30%, based on your credit history and on the retailer.

You should also note that Affirm doesn’t charge any fees on its loans or to create an account, and also there are no hidden fees.

Additionally, it doesn’t even charge late fees, but it is possible that your late payments may impact your credit score and credit history.

Notifications

Katapult: Before each payment is due, you’ll get a text message and an email regarding the payment date and the amount of your next lease to own payment.

Affirm: You’ll get a text message and an email regarding the payment due date. However, it would be better to enable Autopay to schedule automatic monthly payments on your loan.

Katapult Customer Service

If you need any help with Katapult or have any queries, you can contact Katapult’s customer support through live chat service, or call them at 1-833-KATAPULT (528-2785). 

Affirm Customer Service

If you need any help with Affirm or have any queries, you can contact Affirm’s customer support through live chat from here, or call them at (855) 423-3729, or email them at help@affirm.com or cares@affirm.com. You can also visit this page for more information.   

Summing Up: Katapult vs Affirm!

What did you choose? We know it might be quite difficult to choose the perfect buy now, pay later service. Yet you might consider interest, repayments terms, and other information before signing up for a platform.

However, you should know that Affirm has directly integrated Katapult into Affirm Connect. That means, if you aren’t approved by Affirm, you can get a secondary way to pay through Katapult.

In simpler terms, if you are denied financing with Affirm, you’ll be automatically get considered by Katapult. But if you are qualified, then don’t worry! You’ll get notified in real time.

Hopefully, the above article has helped you to know everything about Katapult and Affirm and let you choose the service that suits you!

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