The SNCF now offers you to pay your ticket in installments

Now it is possible to pay for train tickets in three installments. Since Tuesday, the SNCF offers travelers payment in installments, a first third on the day of purchase, a second 30 days later and the last third after 60 days.

from 150 euros

There are some conditions to respect: the price of the purchased ticket(s) must be at least 150 euros and payment must be made with a bank card or American Express with a minimum validity of three months from the purchase date. If you buy your ticket today, August 11, and your card expires before November, you will not be able to use triple pay.

The SNCF uses an external financial company to offer this service, which is not free. There is a rate of 1.5% and therefore for a ticket purchased at 150 euros, paying in three installments will cost you an additional 2.25 euros.

These are all the train lines operated by SNCF, as well as bus tickets, Flixbus and Blablacar Bus, purchased on the railway company’s website.

The rise of installment payments

The installment payment is increasingly used in the face of difficulties to make ends meet: 44% of the French say they use it, according to a Kantar survey last April, an increase of 20% in one year.

A great trend: if up to now installment payments were used to pay for large purchases such as household appliances, more and more people are using it to pay for the purchase of food, and therefore now also the train ticket.

Keep in mind that this type of margin payment is not considered consumer credit, since the time between the purchase and the last payment is less than 90 days.

After 90 days it becomes a consumer loan: that is why we changed the regulations and the merchant must have the client fill out a questionnaire with their income and their current credits to verify that they are not in a situation of over-indebtedness. In this case, the credit can be denied, which does not happen with the installment payment in less than three months. Which represents a risk of over-indebtedness for some people: the European Commission is currently studying the file and should soon modify the regulations around installment payments.