Curious what Max Levchin's been up to ever since he left Google in 2011? Well, wonder no more. Today, PayPal's co-founder revealed his return to the payment world with a new company called Affirm. Like many startups, Affirm is looking to make online payments quicker and easier, but the real question is whether you'll be willing to come along for the ride. AllThingsD managed to catch Levchin for an interview, in which he revealed that Affirm will issue credit to consumers and guarantee payment to merchants for all online transactions. Curiously, Affirm will use Facebook to verify a user's identity, and it'll also use a wide range of social and location-based data to determine an individual's credit worthiness. The payment startup will launch in beta with 1-800-Flowers as its partner, and it's said that consumers will be given 30 days to settle the resulting bill with Affirm. There's no word of what fees or interest rates will be assessed for late payments, but we imagine you'll find strong incentive to pay for that flower arrangement.
Source: AllThingsD
