Point-of-sale lender Affirm is moving past retail shopping and into vacation property rentals. The company, which went public earlier this year, announced a limited-time partnership with vacation rental marketplace Vrbo.

Why should we care?
Affirm’s foray into vacation home financing is emblematic of the strength of the ‘buy now, pay later’ category since the onset of the pandemic. A report from earlier this year found that such services grew 200% during the pandemic. ‘Buy now, pay later’ is seen as a safer alternative to credit cards, and merchants gain with more frequent purchases and larger basket sizes. Affirm is making a double bet on its partnership with Vrbo: that the surge point-of-sale financing continues; and that post-pandemic restrictions on travel ease to the point where travelers make vacation plans en masse. The Affirm-Vrbo tie-up allows for qualified travelers to access 0% APR financing when booking a vacation home through VRBO and paying with Affirm, until April 11. “The 0% financing offer comes in celebration of spring and of all the families eager to reconnect with loved ones after spending a year apart,” Mike Sutter, vice president of product management at Vrbo, said in a statement. While point-of-sale financing is attractive, it also comes with risks for the consumer. In a study by Credit Karma, 40% of U.S. consumers who used “buy now, pay later” missed more than one payment, and 72% of those saw their credit score decline.