Updraft helps people pay off credit card debt. If you have two or three cards and an overdraft sitting in the background, and you only ever pay the minimum, you already know the feeling: the balances never quite come down. Updraft exists to change that. See what you owe, see what it is costing you, and pay it off faster.
Most people with card debt cannot say what the total is, because the truth is spread across statements, apps and a bank overdraft page. The free Updraft app brings every connected balance into one place, on iOS and Android. Connect your cards and accounts, and the app shows each balance, the interest being charged, and a payoff timeline that tells you when the debt actually reaches zero at your current rate of payment.
Card interest is quiet. It arrives monthly, it does not feel like a purchase, and minimum payments are designed to keep you paying it. The app puts a number on it: what your cards and overdraft are costing you, month by month, and how long minimum payments would really take. Run the numbers yourself with the Pay Off Calculator, or read the walkthrough of how to pay off credit card debt.
This is the part that matters. Updraft is a UK lender, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (firm reference number 810923), and its lending product is a fixed-rate loan built to replace your card and overdraft balances. You say which balances you want to clear. Updraft pays the card providers directly, so the debt is repaid rather than moved. You then make one fixed monthly repayment, at a rate fixed for the whole term, with a known end date.
For the same monthly outgoing, more of your money goes to the balance and less to interest. That is the whole idea.
A 0% balance transfer moves the debt to another card, and when the promotional period ends, the interest comes back. An Updraft loan is built to repay the debt, not relocate it. The rate is fixed for the whole term and the end date does not move. If you are weighing the two options, the honest answer is that it depends on whether you want to move the debt or clear it, and we would rather you made that choice with the real numbers in front of you.
Updraft does not judge you on your credit score alone. Affordability is assessed on your actual income and spending, read through open banking alongside your credit file. If your high street bank has turned you down, that does not automatically mean the answer here is no, though there is never a guarantee of acceptance.
Before you apply, a soft search shows your eligibility and rate, and a soft search does not harm your credit score. Only the full application involves a hard search, and the loan is reported to credit reference agencies as normal.
You can check your eligibility in minutes, see your rate and monthly repayment, and take the decision from there. Nothing about checking touches your credit score, and the rate you see is the rate you can compare against what your cards are charging you today.
Updraft is for working people across the UK who use credit to afford everyday life and want to tidy it up. Nurses, teachers, IT workers, mid-level managers, small business owners. People who are self-aware about their money, not in denial about it. If that sounds like you, you are exactly who we built this for.
If you are in genuine financial difficulty, Updraft is not the right place. Free, independent help is available from StepChange, National Debtline, Citizens Advice or MoneyHelper.
Updraft operates as Fairscore Ltd, authorised and regulated by the FCA, and is backed by institutional lending partners including NatWest, Jefferies and Santander CIB. Over one million members have used Updraft, and more than £750 million of credit card and overdraft debt has been paid off. Members rate the service highly: 4.88 out of 5 on Smart Money People from over 11,000 reviews, 4.7 to 4.8 on Trustpilot, and 4.5 on the App Store. You can read the reviews yourself.
The loan is one tool. The free Updraft app is the other, and it keeps showing your balances, your free credit score and report, and your payoff timeline for as long as you want it. Customers can disconnect accounts at any time, and read access never permits payments. When new card debt builds, and for many people it does, the app is where you see it first, and where you plan what to do about it.
We publish guidance because we would rather you understood how card interest actually works than signed something you have not thought through. Our Money Talk hub covers the real questions people ask: should I get a loan to pay off my credit cards, which card do I pay first, what does a soft search actually check. Customer support is human, based in our offices in London, Manchester and India, and there is no chatbot maze between you and a person.
9%APR Representative, based on a £10,000 loan over 60 months at 20.40% fixed interest p.a. Monthly repayment: £283.20. Total repayable: £16,992 (inc. £600 fee). Subject to status and affordability. Consolidating debt may increase the term and total amount repaid. All figures are representative and based upon an assessment of credit and affordability. Terms and conditions apply. Loans from 15.3% to 41.2% APR, £1,000 to £25,000, over 2 to 5 years.
You do not have to commit to anything today. Connect your cards, see what you owe and what it is costing you, and decide from there. For a deeper look at how the whole process works, explore Updraft insights. Credit that lifts you.