I am sure that a lot people have seen things like Quadpay, Afterpay or shopping websites when you are buying the new Coach Messenger bag or something similar.   I would never use a service like that for something like a bag; that’s what the Outlet Malls are for.  I can certainly use a similar service like Uplift or Affirm for my future travel plans.   I havent had the chance yet to use Affirm but I am a Uplift regular.   Uplift is an option for payment for Virgin and Funjet which are my 2 regular booking engines for vacations. 

Uplift allows you to get approval in less than 60 seconds and make mini payments on your vacation; frequently extending even beyond the date of travel; sometimes with no interest assessed.  So unlike when you put something on a Credit Card and have even favorable terms may mean that if you will end up paying $100 in interest and finance charges over the year that you make payments to pay it off.  Whereas with Uplift you can get your travel covered for a small down payment and then 0% Interest.   When I finally took a chance to see how Uplift worked I had amazing experience and will never stop using it; until they start saying no Drew, you have exhausted us with your travel!

My first time I booked a trip with Uplift; the terms were amazing.  I had a small downpayment less than 10% of the cost of the trip and I had 11 months to pay off a trip that was happening in 3 weeks!  I also was offered it with 0% APR for that 11 months.  I borrowed $600 and paid $50 down with the expectation that I make 11 more payments each month of $50.  I borrowed $600 and will repay only $600 and I still got the amazing experience of the trip.  This was for my Cruise on Virgin and I then took the funds and bought my Scarlet Night outfit and a fancy pay of Pajamas for the PJ Party; and had the remainder of the funds to pay for anything else I needed.  I ended up using it to pay down the balance of the loan; since it was so easy I wanted to make sure that I could use it again. 

Uplift allows for you to book directly on some sites, some require a Travel Agent assistance You can use Uplift for most Cruise Lines including Virgin Voyages, Carnival, many vacation package providers such as Apple Vacation and Funjet to name a few; as well as even car rental providers such as Budge. I can’t speak to Affrim but from their website you can use it on Expedia for both Hotels and Vacations, Vrbo so if you are planning a long stay it is an option. With Affirm per their website you have the chance to do 4 interest free payments every 2 weeks (8 weeks term) or monthly payments with interest rates from 15% up to 36%.

Overall the application for Uplift is a quick process they start out by asking for your Name, Date of Birth and the last 4 of your SSN and they will come back and ask for more information if they can approve your purchase. At that point they will ask for your full Social Security Number, Income so that they can figure out whether a down payment is needed; what the interest rate will be if there is interest charged; and lastly how much you payment will be.  In my experience you get 3 options; with my most recent it was 3 monthly payments of $301.34 with 0% Interest. The second option was for 11 monthly payments at $92.83 at 25.99% Interest and lastly 17 monthly payments at 35.99% Interest for $68.35.  I of course chose the best option for me; but when offered these choices you can of course make your own choices! And there is no prepayment penalty; so if I pay off the 17 months version in 11 or the 11 month option in 4 then there are no penalties; and I will save some of those interest charges.

The best thing about Uplift at least it doesn’t hit your credit report; it doesn’t impact your score by adding $1000 on a credit card which may increase your credit utilization; and may reduce your credit score.  Our goal is to travel and ensure that your credit score is not impacted so that you can continue to use those airline or hotel chain cards with the large limits so that we can earn those Airline Miles or Hotel Points  by making purchase on those cards.  It also ensures that you have those balances available in case of an emergency during travel; which could mean just wanting to walk up O2 in London or taking a Hot Air Balloon ride in Amsterdam.  But it also ensures that we can still save on our trips by getting those free flights or hotel stays!   And I will say it is a good thing, as I have used twice more since.  All three of them are cruises.  Don’t judge me.

Interested in a Vacation with Uplift, Cruise or anything else let me know!  I can certainly help you plan that trip; that vacation for your birthday, pride event or even that cruise!