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Butter review 2023

Spread your flights, hotels and shopping purchases over 10 instalments with buy now, pay later provider Butter.

How Butter works Features of Butter
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By

Emily Herring

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Buy now, pay later (BNPL) provider Butter is offering customers the opportunity to spread purchases up to 10 instalments. Working with airlines, hotels and retailers, Butter is churning the BNPL market with its long repayment plans and exclusive travel now, pay later flight and hotel offers. But watch out for the varying transaction fees ranging from 0% to 12.9%.

Who is Butter?

Founded in 2015 by Timothy Davis, Nik Haukohl and Stefan Hobl, Butter (formerly Sploor) paved the way as the (self-claimed) world’s first Travel Now, Pay Later booking site, primarily lending the cost of flights and accommodation to its customers.

Since rebranding as Butter in 2017, the BNPL provider now offers a simple and transparent shopping experience to customers with its open-banking based shopping app.

How does Butter work?

Once you have downloaded and signed up to Butter, Butter will run a soft credit check on you. This check will not affect your credit score. To do this Butter may ask you to connect your bank accounts via Open Banking with Credit Kudos, to enable us to accurately model your affordability.

If you have been approved, and a credit limit has been set for you, you can start browsing shops, flights and accommodation that they have available. If you find something that takes your fancy, add it to your basket and choose to “Pay with Butter” at checkout. You will be given an option to choose a payment plan and a budget that suits you, Butter allows you to spread the costs between 2-10 monthly or bi-weekly repayments.

Features of shopping with Butter

  • No annual fee. Butter is free to use as long as you make your payments on time. There is a £12 late payment fee.
  • Simple app. Manage your payments, check your purchases and shop in the app. Available on iOS and Android.
  • Butter for Chrome. Don’t want to shop on your phone, Butter allows you to add a Chrome extension to your laptop/PC.
  • Virtual Card. Butter will create a single-use virtual card to pay for your purchase, which will be automatically filled in at the checkout for you.
  • Warning: Late repayments can cause you serious money problems. For help, contact the government’s free money advice website, MoneyHelper.

How much does Butter cost?

Creating an account with Butter will not cost you anything, but if you decide to make purchases through your account,

However, beware as the BNPL provider charges transaction fees ranging from 0% to 12.9%, depending on the purchase made and repayment option chosen. Butter also charges a late repayment fee of £12, if you fail to make payments on time.

Butter has stated that travel bookings made through Butter Holidays have a 0% APR with no interest and no transaction fee.

Which shops offer Butter?

The Butter shopping app lets you shop at any store! You can use the in-app store directory or use the search bar and tap “Search in Google” at the bottom of the results screen. Once you are in the web-browser mode, “Pay with Butter” will then automatically become available any time you visit an online store.

Eligibility requirements for a Butter account

  • Be at least 18 years old
  • Live in the UK
  • Have a UK bank account and a credit or debit card
  • Have a mobile phone
  • ID – Driver licence or Passport

What happens if I make a late payment?

Like all lines of credit, you should only spend as much as you can afford. Butter accounts are governed by a running account credit agreement and you can cancel this agreement at any time. However, if you feel like you cannot make a repayment, you should contact the BNPL provider as soon as possible on 0208 050 3453 or by emailing payments@butter.co.uk.

The company does charge a £12 late fee for a missed or partial payment. Late or missed payments will also be recorded on your credit file.

If you are struggling to make repayments, contact the government’s free money advice website, MoneyHelper. Late repayments can cause you serious money problems.

What can I do if something goes wrong?

If something goes wrong, you should contact Butter in the first instance on 0208 050 3453 or by emailing payments@butter.co.uk.

Butter customer reviews

According to customer review sites like Trustpilot, Butter has received great feedback. The BNPL provider has been rated “Excellent” and 4.5 out of 5 stars based on 1,378 reviews (May 2022). Many of Butter’s customers credit its easy-to-use and smooth service.

Those customers who have left the lowest possible rating said that the provider had given no warning when updating account terms and conditions and when asking Butter about this their customer service was “atrocious”. With one customer commenting that Butter “have misled their customers to sign an agreement for a product which they have simply just completely changed without any notice at all.”

Pros and cons of Butter

Pros

  • No account fees.
  • Easy-to-use and simple app.
  • Interest-free spending, if you repay your debts on time.
  • No annual fees.
  • Payment reminders.
  • Flexible and long repayment options.
  • Buy now, pay later for flights and accommodation, not just retail.

Cons

  • Complaints of unaware account changes and poor customer service.
  • Transaction fees ranging from 0% to 12.9% on instalment plan purchases.
  • Not all flights are ATOL protected.
  • Late or missed payments will be recorded on your credit file.

Our verdict

With the option to spread your purchases over 10 instalments for travel, accommodation and retail, and the choice to shop at any store(!), Butter is offering one of the more flexible BNPL options on the market and could be a good option if you’re considering going down this route. But, make sure you watch out for those varying transaction costs and clear all your debts on time, or you could face a fee.

Have more questions about Butter?
Check out our frequently asked questions

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