Citi Travel and Citi Flex Pay Now Offer ‘Buy Now, Pay Later’ Trips in the Travel Portal

Citi is out with an update to its travel portal, offering no fees and no interest on payment plans for those who need time to pay off the trips they’re booking.

While we’d never recommend taking on debt to travel, there’s definitely a market for splitting travel payments into 12 equal payments over the next year. And with the growing number of people looking to finance trips, the latest feature from Citi Travel and Citi Flex Pay makes sense.

Here’s what you need to know.

New Feature for Payment Plans on Travel Portal Bookings

Many Americans are still paying off their travels from last year, according to a WalletHub survey. The same survey found that 1 in 3 Americans expect to have higher credit card balances at the end of 2024 than they have right now.

But that isn’t stopping people from traveling, creating a trend in which people go into debt to finance their travels, assuming they can pay off trips over time. Conversely, those who aren’t traveling cite costs and the inability to pay for the trips without incurring interest as primary factors for not booking the trips they want to take.

In response, Citi has rolled out a new feature to “buy now, pay later” using Citi Flex Pay when booking trips in the Citi Travel portal.

“To help cardmembers confidently book their next getaway, knowing they could pay responsibly and without fees or interest, Citi launched a buy now, pay later offering on Citi Travel with best in market $0 fee and no interest pricing,” said a spokesperson for Citi.

Using Citi Flex Pay — available to anyone with a Citi credit card — would-be travelers can split purchases into 12 equal, monthly payments of a fixed amount while checking out at Citi Travel. This option is available for purchases of $75 or more. It doesn’t require any additional application or credit to use this feature.

What Is Citi Flex Pay?

Citi Flex Pay is a “buy now, pay later” payment plan available for more than just travel purchases. It’s available on purchases of at least $75, giving cardholders the option to split their purchases into monthly payments of a fixed amount.

Rather than incurring credit card interest, which happens when you don’t pay your card’s bill in full each month, cardholders can create plans to pay off a purchase over time. While these services are advertised as not having fees or interest, note that you will pay more in the long run than you would if you paid for an item in full at the time of checkout.

Thus, there is an additional cost for using “buy now, pay later.” For example, you might pay $110 for a $100 item because you chose to pay it off in 3 months, rather than paying the full amount on your credit card today.

Would you wind up paying more in interest, rather than using the payment plan? That’s the key number to check if you’re considering a “buy now, pay later” service like Citi Flex Pay.

Final Thoughts

Citi cardholders who book trips through Citi Travel now have the option to pay those off over time by using Citi Flex Pay. This latest integration will likely catch the attention of those who need time to pay off trips they want to book. Just be sure to use the plans wisely if you plan to utilize this new feature.