We all probably know that, for the most part, the earlier you book a plane ticket and hotel for your vacation or sister’s wedding the cheaper they’ll be.
That said, sometimes you don’t have all the money to buy that expensive plane ticket upfront, making it so you have to wait until closer to your travel dates to make that booking. Depending on how long you have to wait, that plane ticket could be twice as expensive, as could that hotel.
While a lot of people might have a credit card capable of holding the charge, many more people don’t. For those people, CheapAir recently partnered with Affirm to offer a payment plan for flights and hotels booked through the site.
Now instead of having to pay for everything upfront, you can finance a trip through the site and split those payments over 3,6, or 12 months making them significantly more manageable. Loans are applied for and come with a 10%-30% APR, depending on your credit situation.
While 30% (for those with poor credit) is certainly a high-interest rate if you’re looking at a 50% or more increase in cost between now and what you’ll be able to book that plane ticket, then it might make sense.
Rather than asking for the site to cover a specific purchase, you can also apply for a travel budget. For instance, if you need to travel to Seattle for your brother’s wedding, you might ask for $1500 to cover the flight and week hotel stay. If approved, you’ll have 21 days to book all those things through the site. When you’re done, you select how long you would like to spread the payments out for with exact dollar amounts associated with each payment so you know what you’re getting into.
Like most other loans, payments can also be made early to cut down on the amount you ultimately pay in interest.
Would it be better to charge all this on a low-interest credit card where you’re earning points, of course it would. However, if that’s not an option for you for whatever reason, this might be a decent alternative.