Promised a year ago, payment in 3 monthly installments for train tickets of 150 euros and more is now available on the SNCF website and mobile application.
+8%: this is the planned increase, in 2024, of the railway page right, a tax which accounts for nearly 40% of the price of a TGV ticket. Clearly, the price of train tickets, already considered by many to be prohibitive, will increase further, and no doubt sharply, in the years to come.
A novelty, however, is likely to mitigate the bad news: as promised last summer, the payment in 3 installments is now available on the SNCF Connect website and mobile application, as MoneyVox has seen.
When questioned, the SNCF communication confirmed that this much-awaited payment facility was in the launch phase: Deployment will take place gradually to expand the services and offers offered.
To add this new option, alongside the bank card, holiday vouchers or Apple Pay, the SNCF has woven, since October 2022, a partnership with Almaa young French start-up specializing in split payment.
Payment facilities: Alma gets the green light from the banking policeman
From 150 euros of purchase
Here is how the payment in 3 installments works in practice. Once the option has been chosen, when paying for the basket, the user is automatically redirected to the Alma site, where he must enter some personal information (telephone number, address, etc.) and his credit card identifiers . It is, in fact, necessary to hold a card CB, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Visa Electron, Maestro or Bancontact, valid for at least 3 months after the date of purchase. Prepaid and virtual cards are not accepted.
If Alma gives the green light, the payment is then tal over 2 months: The first chance is due immediately, the 2nd and 3rd respectively +30 and +60 days. Example with a Rennes-Lyon round-trip ticket purchased today Wednesday August 9 at the price of 225 euros: you immediately pay 78.63 euros, including 3.63 euros in Alma country financing costs, then 75 euros on September 9 and 75 euros on October 9 . Contrary to what many online businesses practice, the facility of payment is not offered by the SNCF, but the customer’s responsibility, height of 1.5% of the trip price.
According to the SNCF communication, the new payment option is offered for the purchase of train tickets (TGV INOUI, OUIGO, INTERCITES, TER, Lyria, Eurostar, Thalys), but also bus (Flixbus and BlaBlaCar Bus). Not all tickets, however, are eligible. Only basket payments between 150euros and 999euros can be staggered.