Affirm SCRA: 6% Cap on Pre-Service Loans, Filed by Webform

Affirm is a buy-now-pay-later lender, not a bank, and its SCRA program fits in one Help Center article. Titled “Active military 6% interest rate cap,” it states that Affirm offers an interest rate cap of 6% under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act while you are on active duty, that the benefit is available for loans taken out before active duty, and that you request it through the “Need more help? Get support” button, where you give your loan ID and upload eligibility documentation through a webform (verified August 2026). Nothing below 6% is published, and no processing time is stated: Affirm says it will be in touch once you submit.

The cap is worth filing when the plan carries interest. Affirm’s own disclosure puts its rates at 0% to 36% APR, with Pay in 4 at 0% APR. A $2,400 twelve-month plan at 30% APR opened before you shipped out costs about $408 in interest; capped at 6% it costs about $79, and the excess is forgiven under § 3937(a)(2) back to your duty start date. Run your own plans through the savings calculator.

What Affirm puts in writing

The 6% figure, the retroactivity, and the forgiveness of excess interest are the statute; Affirm adds no voluntary extras on top.

How to file with Affirm

Request the SCRA cap from Affirm

1. In the Affirm app, list every plan that started before your active-duty start date and copy each loan ID. Each purchase is its own loan with its own ID.
2. Have your orders or DMDC status certificate ready as a PDF or image, plus a written § 3937 request from the letter generator so the notice date is on the record.
3. Open the Help Center article “Active military 6% interest rate cap,” click or tap Need more help? Get support, enter a loan ID, and upload the documents through the webform. Affirm recommends logging in first for the support flow.
4. Repeat or list the remaining loan IDs in the same request so no pre-service plan is missed.
5. Wait for Affirm’s reply. If none arrives, call 855-423-3729 (8:00 am to 11:00 pm Eastern, seven days) and reference the submission.
6. Confirm in the app that each plan shows the reduced APR and a lower remaining schedule, and keep the confirmation. If you already overpaid, use the refund guide.

Where Affirm borrowers get stuck

“The APR you’re offered cannot be changed.” That sentence sits in Affirm’s own “How interest works” article, and a support agent may repeat it. It describes normal servicing, not the SCRA. Federal law overrides the loan agreement for pre-service debt, and Affirm’s SCRA article says as much. If a first-line reply cites the no-change rule, point to Affirm’s own SCRA article and escalate through the denial playbook.

One purchase, one loan. Affirm does not have an account-level rate. A pre-service plan qualifies; a plan you open at your first duty station does not, even at the same store. File the loan IDs individually and check each one afterward.

Pay in 4 and the MLA question. Pay in 4 is 0% APR with no fees by Affirm’s disclosure, so the 6% cap has nothing to remove there. Plans opened during service are governed by the Military Lending Act, and the definition matters: 32 CFR 232.3(f) makes credit “consumer credit” when it carries a finance charge or is payable in more than four installments. An interest-bearing monthly plan opened during service falls under the 36% MAPR cap in 232.4(b); a 0% four-payment plan does not meet that definition. Affirm’s Terms of Service separately state that its arbitration clause does not apply to MLA covered borrowers.

No processing clock. Affirm prints no response time. Simple interest accrues daily on your outstanding principal, so every day at the contract rate is money you will have to claim back. File early, keep the submission confirmation, and file no later than 180 days after your service ends per § 3937(b).

Comparing lenders? The bank leaderboard shows who beats 6% and who, like Affirm, publishes exactly the statute.

The law behind this: 50 U.S.C. § 3937

Maximum rate of interest on debts incurred before military service: read the statute.