Affirm’s CEO on Holiday Shopping, Why He Started His Company — and Elon Musk | Global News Avenue

Max Levchin, a former computer scientist, couldn’t get a credit card even after he took his company public. Now he runs a payments platform that competes with credit card companies, which he calls the financial industry’s “coal-fired fuel plants.”

Levchin, founder and CEO of Affirm (AFRM), discussed on CNBC on Tuesday Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) Provider See this holiday. He also shared his career origin story and described his relationship with Paypal (Junior annual salary) co-founder Elon Musk has evolved.

Here are some highlights.

He was shunned by the credit card industry.

Levchin immigrated from Ukraine as a teenager and had no credit history. He said he was late on several credit card bills while in college, causing his credit score to decline over the years.

“Even after the Paypal IPO, I couldn’t get a credit card and buy a car,” Levchin said. “There are a lot of people like me, and I wanted to start a company to help them get recognition and get fair coverage.”

With Affirm, he said, he was also seeking to undercut an industry that had “switched” to a reliance on late fees and deferred interest policies.

He thinks it’s a good thing to have an entrepreneur in the White House.

When asked if he had discussed incoming President Donald Trump with Musk, Musk was new governmentLevchin said the two chatted about lighter matters.

“Our conversations were limited to science fiction,” Levchin said, “which was always a safe topic.”

Still, Levchin expressed support for improving government efficiency, a stated goal of the new government’s Efficiency Ministry.

“All this talk of efficiency sounds great to me. I’m far from a government expert, so how they achieve this may be a bit of a mystery,” Levchin said. “I love the entrepreneurial spirit of government.”

Personal technology and apparel are popular purchases this holiday season.

U.S. consumers are doing ‘very well’ Confirm activityLevchin said.

He noted that users have been spending money on clothing, furniture, homewares, travel and technology. (Read more investment encyclopedia Start coverage Holiday shopping season here.)

“I made a big statement that consumer electronics are going to come back; everyone needs to upgrade,” he said. “I was right. It made the top five.”