Zilch is a Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) provider that can be accessed in the form of an app. What makes it unique from other platforms is that you can use it to shop at practically any retailer- anywhere that takes Mastercard – rather than being tied into partner stores.
What’s more, if you don’t like the idea of using Buy Now Pay Later, you can still take advantage of a £5 Welcome Bonus that requires no minimum spend. In this post, I will give my honest opinion of Zilch and also walk through how I made a £15 purchase completely free with my Welcome bonus, without having to use any credit or BNPL offers.
How to sign up to Zilch
In order to create an account, you will need to download the app and have either a photo driving license or passport to hand in order to verify your ID.
Once your ID has been verified, you will be able to shop via the Zilch app, by clicking through to the retailer.
How Zilch Works
Zilch is essentially a virtual credit card. In fact, on creating an account users will be issued with a virtual Mastercard within the app which can also be connected to Google Pay, Samsung Pay and Apple Pay for in-store payments via your mobile.
As Zilch is accepted everywhere you can use Mastercard, there are thousands of options, including Amazon, eBay, Next, Asda, Deliveroo and Tesco, so it should be easy to find something to claim your welcome bonus on.
How to shop with Zilch
In order to shop with Zilch, simply search for the retailer you want in the app.
Because I received a £15 welcome bonus for using a friend’s referral code, I decided to spend it on a mirror costing £15 that I was already planning to buy in Dunelm. (This bonus has now been reduced to £5, but it may be boosted up again in the future!)
Click through to the retailer and you will be prompted to pay in one of 2 ways;
Pay in full and receive 2% cashback as a reward;
Pay in 4 installments up to the value of £200 and zero interest. (Hence the name Zilch).
Because I was using my welcome bonus, I chose to pay in full, knowing that my purchase would be completely free!
Once you find the product you want, check out as usual but at the point of payment, select your Zilch card number and CVC (You may need to go back to the Zilch app to copy and paste this information over).
Once done, that’s it! Because my purchase was £15, I didn’t need to pay a penny. If my spending had been more, I would have been charged the difference to either pay off in full or split into 4 interest-free installments.
Is There Anything You Can’t Buy With Zilch?
According to the official Zilch FAQ, you cannot use Zilch for the following purchases:
- Adult products and content
- Alcohol
- Cash advances
- Credit card and loan payments
- Coins or precious metals
- Foreign currency
- Gambling
- Gaming
- Gift cards (Outside of Gift Cards By Zilch)
- Illegal items and activities
- Money transferring services
- Narcotics and drugs including paraphernalia
- Virtual currency, including cryptocurrency
- Vouchers
- Weapons, including parts and accessories
It is also not recommended to use Zilch for recurring monthly subscription payments, as this can get very confusing when a monthly payment is broken into 4 repayments over 6 weeks.
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