Affirm teams with Eventbrite and Expedia to offer monthly payments for events and travel

Affirm has expanded into the events and travel market, thanks to partnerships with Eventbrite and Expedia. Under this arrangement, the lending startup will enable monthly payments for consumers who may not be able to instantly pay the full amount.

When purchasing a ticket to an event, festival, or conference through Eventbrite, or perhaps reserving a hotel, flight, or car reservation through Expedia, Hotels.com, Travelocity, HomeAway, or Trivago, you’ll have an option to either pay using traditional means, such as a credit card, or using Affirm. With the latter, the cost is broken up into 3 or 6 monthly installments

If you elect to use Affirm, you’ll be able to secure a ticket to the event or book the reservation while you’re still paying the ticket off. This is likely due to the trust the lending startup has placed in you, thanks to its algorithm that assesses someone’s ability to fulfill their financial obligations. At checkout, it’ll ask you for a few pieces of information, such as your name, email address, phone number, birthday, and the last four digits of your Social Security number.

All purchases require that the user is at least 18 years of age, has a valid U.S. phone number registered in their name, and agrees to receive SMS texts from Affirm.

Eventbrite shared that 150 event organizers have already received access to this integration and are currently using it. The events span a variety of categories including endurance, concerts, festivals, and conferences, including Tough Mudder, Okeechobee Music Festival, Moogfest, The Digital Detox, and AFROPUNK.

Monthly payments aren’t exactly a new concept in ecommerce. Competitors in the space include Bill Me Later and Wonga, but Affirm’s algorithm for determining people’s propensity to pay back loans could be its selling point.

Affirm already has more than 700 merchants integrated onto its lending platform, where it offers services through the point of sale system. But the Max Levchin-founded company has set its sights on developing more direct-to-consumer applications and has begun taking steps to accomplish this. Affirm has acquired the personal finance startup Sweep and brought on board former eBay executive Carl Gish as its inaugural chief marketing officer.

“By simply offering Affirm, we are expecting Eventbrite to see the same results as our other 700+ merchant partners, that is a significant increase in conversion, average order value, and revenue,” Levchin said in a statement. “Affirm will give people the ability to attend more events by allowing them to split their ticket purchase into 3 or 6 monthly installments.”

Affirm declined to disclose how it is compensated from each transaction. However, it has said about similar arrangements in the past that it charges simple interest but no late fees.