Updraft helps people pay off credit card debt. It is a UK lender, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, built on one straightforward idea: see what you owe, see what it is costing you, and pay it off faster. Two or three cards and an overdraft become one fixed-rate loan, one fixed monthly repayment and a known end date, with the money sent to the card providers so the balances are cleared, not moved.
If you have ever added up your cards on the back of an envelope, you will know the total is always bigger than the one in your head. The free Updraft app helps you see and pay off your credit card debt: connect your cards and accounts, and every balance lands in one place, alongside the interest each one is costing you and a payoff timeline that shows when each balance reaches zero. Balances are read through open banking provided by TrueLayer (Firm Reference Number 901096), for whom Fairscore Ltd, the company behind Updraft, acts as an agent for account information services. You can disconnect any account at any time, and the connection is read-only: Updraft can see your balances, never move your money.
Card minimum payments are designed to be affordable, not to finish the job. Pay the minimum across a few cards and the balance barely moves while the interest stacks up, which is why the FCA's persistent debt rules (CONC 6.7) require card providers to step in when a customer has paid more in interest and charges than they have repaid of the balance. Updraft shows the interest on each balance and how long the minimums would really take, so you see the position plainly and early. The overdraft deserves the same honesty: an arranged overdraft can sit at close to 40% EAR for years and, because it has no repayment date, it never has to end. With your cards and overdraft in one place, with the true cost of each next to the balance, nothing hides.
When you are ready to clear the lot, Updraft replaces the cards and the overdraft with one fixed-rate loan. The rate is fixed for the whole term, so the repayment you start with is the repayment you finish with, and the end date is agreed from day one. Borrow from £1,000 to £25,000, with terms of up to five years; the typical loan is around £5,000 covering two or three cards. For the same monthly outgoing, more of your money goes to the balance and less to interest than if you stay on card minimums. An arrangement fee is included in the total amount repayable and shown up front, and there are no early repayment charges if you finish early.
Rates are personal, and flexible loans to pay off card debt start from 15% APR, from 15.3% to 41.2% APR. The point is not a headline rate: it is a fixed plan with a visible end. Consolidation makes sense when the total cost is lower and the cards are actually cleared, so compare the numbers before you decide. The representative example shows exactly what a loan looks like:
25.9% 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.
A 0% balance transfer moves the debt to another card, and the interest returns when the promotional period ends. An Updraft loan is built to repay the debt instead. On approval, the money goes directly to your card providers, so the balances are cleared rather than shuffled, typically within days. If you would rather receive the funds yourself, they can go to your bank account. From that day on, it is one fixed monthly repayment until the known end date, with your progress visible in the app.
Nothing has to touch your credit file for you to find out where you stand. A soft search shows your eligibility and your rate before any full application, with no impact on your credit score. Affordability is assessed on your real income and spending, read through open banking alongside your credit file, not on the credit score alone: that matters if your record is fair rather than perfect, or if your high street bank has already said no. The full application is a hard search, and the loan is reported to credit reference agencies like any other credit agreement. Not everyone is accepted, and that is deliberate, because a loan you cannot afford would lift nobody.
The Updraft app is free on iOS and Android, and it shows you every balance, the interest you are paying and a payoff timeline whether or not you ever take a loan. You can explore the app in detail or download Updraft straight to your phone, connect your cards and accounts, and see:
From first look to final payment, the path is deliberately short, and the full walkthrough of how to pay off credit card debt shows every step in plain English. The short version looks like this:
Updraft is for working people whose credit has become part of everyday life rather than a crisis: nurses, teachers, IT workers, mid-level managers, small business owners, couples with young children and a few cards between them. If any of these sound like you, you are in the right place:
To apply, you need to be a UK resident with a regular income, a UK bank account, and card or overdraft balances you want to pay off. Updraft starts after the spending, not before it, so it never funds a purchase. It is a regulated lender, not a debt advice service or a debt charity. If you are in genuine financial difficulty, free advice is the right first step, from StepChange, National Debtline, Citizens Advice or MoneyHelper.
Updraft is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, Firm Reference Number 810923, and operates as Fairscore Ltd, trading as Updraft, Companies House number 10868865. More than one million members have used it to pay off more than £750 million of credit card and overdraft debt. It was named Best Personal Finance App at the British Bank Awards 2026, voted for by the public, and won Best Marketing Campaign of the Year at the Credit Awards 2026. Behind the lending sit institutional partners including NatWest, Jefferies and Santander CIB, offices in London, Manchester and India, and customer support staffed by humans who answer like humans.
Members rate it too: 4.7 to 4.8 on Trustpilot, 4.88 out of 5 on Smart Money People from more than 11,000 reviews, 4.5 on the App Store and 4.8 on Google Play, with platform ratings as at September 2026. You can read the reviews on Trustpilot and see the same words coming up again and again: easy application, clear information, cards actually paid off.
Begin where it costs nothing. Run your numbers through the pay off calculator to see how long your cards would take to clear on their own, then check your eligibility to see your rate with a soft search and no impact on your credit score. If you would rather read first, MoneyTalk takes on the questions people actually ask, from "should I get a loan to pay off my credit cards?" to overdrafts and minimum payments, and there is more from the team in Updraft insights. See what you owe. See what it is costing you. Pay it off faster.