Buy now, pay later (BNPL) products were all the rage in 2021. With a potentially disruptive consumer lending model and fast-growing customer bases, some analysts even projected that these companies were poised to disrupt the dominant credit card networks like , Mastercard, and American Express. Bold statements, that's for sure.

But in 2023, these dreams of a BNPL future -- like many other financial technology "disruptors" -- have fallen flat. BNPL provider Affirm (NASDAQ: AFRM) is down significantly from all-time highs, with shares of its stock off 87% from a 2021 peak. This means if you invested $100 in the stock just a few years ago, you would only have $13 left today. Not great.

Bears will argue that Affirm is no different than traditional lending and will amount to a flash in the pan versus the traditional finance players, which is why the stock is sinking. Are the skeptics right here? Or is now a great time to buy the dip on this pandemic favorite?

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Source Fool.com