Overview
Pay Later is a client financing option built into 8am LawPay, powered by Affirm.
You get 100% upfront — deposited via ACH within 1–5 business days, depending on your account type.
Clients pay over Affirm over time in monthly installments.
Affirm carries the risk. A missed installment never affects your payment.
How you get paid
Your client selects Pay Later when paying an invoice or quick bill and completes a short application with Affirm.
Affirm approves the application in real time.
Affirm pays you 100% of the amount. Funds settle in your bank account via ACH within 1 to 5 business days, depending on your account type.
Your client repays Affirm in installments over 3, 6, 12, 18, or 24 months. Repayment happens entirely between your client and Affirm. Your staff never runs a payment plan, sends a reminder, or chases an installment.
Pay Later works for payments into both trust and operating accounts. As with every payment method in LawPay, we never debit fees from your trust account.
What it costs
Your firm pays a 4.95% processing fee per Pay Later transaction. This fee cannot be passed along to your client as a surcharge.
Your client pays financing charges to Affirm, from 0% to 36% APR, depending on their eligibility. There are no late fees and no penalty for paying early. Affirm shows your client their exact terms, including their monthly payment amount, before they commit. If the terms don't work for them, they can decline and pay another way.
What your client sees
Open the bill. Your client clicks the link to pay their invoice or quick bill.
Choose Pay Later. They see Pay Later listed as a payment option on the payment screen.
Apply and decide. They select Begin Process, enter a few pieces of information, and receive a real-time decision. Checking their options uses a soft credit check, which does not affect their credit score.
A few things to know:
Pay Later supports transactions from $150 to $30,000.
Financing is available to individual clients only. Businesses and other entities paying for commercial purposes are not eligible.
Clients must apply on their own device. Applying on a firm computer, tablet, or phone violates Affirm's terms of use.
Clients need a US mobile number to verify their Affirm account.
Try it: click the demo below to walk through what your client sees.
Sharing Pay Later with clients
You don't need to become an expert on the application process. When a client asks how it works, you can keep it simple:
"We offer a client financing option called Pay Later. It lets you pay your bill in monthly installments while your case keeps moving, and you can check your options in a couple of minutes without affecting your credit."
Then send them to our client-facing page, which covers the application, rates and terms, credit impact, and managing payments: lawpay.com/affirm
Two more things that help:
Use approved materials. Any marketing you create about Pay Later must use pre-approved messaging and materials from Affirm. Find them here.
Route loan questions to Affirm. Once a client accepts a loan, all repayment questions go to Affirm at affirm.com/help or in the Affirm app. Your staff should never advise on loan terms, payments, or credit matters.
Want to feel confident before your first Pay Later conversation?
Why you won't see the Pay Later button
Pay Later only appears on the secure payment page your client sees. You and your staff will not see it when running a card manually, logging a payment inside LawPay, or previewing an invoice internally. This is expected behavior, not a bug.
To confirm Pay Later is on, check the payment method customization options when creating an invoice: Clients will only have access to Pay Later if it's checked off.
Common ways firms use Pay Later
Removing the retainer barrier. A client wants to move forward but can't cover the full retainer today. Pay Later turns that consultation into a signed client.
Keeping a case moving. A client has a payment due but not full funds on hand, and the matter would otherwise stall.
Closing out a case. A final payment is due before a court date, a settlement, or delivery of documents.
Offering a payment plan without running one. Your client gets installment flexibility. Your staff never manages a schedule.
Turning Pay Later on or off
To activate Pay Later on your account, or to remove it, email [email protected].