The Xbox Series X is Microsoft's flagship powerhouse, boasting great performance at 4K resolutions and is an excellent way to experience Xbox exclusives and third-party titles. Whilst an Xbox Series X is significantly cheaper than a gaming PC that could achieve similar performance it still costs a pretty penny with an RRP of £479.99 (increased from £449.99 back in August 2023). Xbox does offer a cheaper alternative with its Xbox Series S console coming in at £249.99 RRP which is often discounted even hitting lows of £189.99 on Black Friday of 2022/2023. But the reality is that the Xbox Series S whilst a fantastic value proposition is significantly less powerful and does not provide the same premium gaming experience as its big brother the Xbox Series X.
It's also important to note that the prices mentioned above for the Xbox Series X do not consider potential items you'd bundle in such as extra controllers, games or subscriptions like Xbox Game Pass Ultimate all of which increase that initial investment for an Xbox Series X. Although compared to the Xbox Series S the Xbox Series X may seem expensive we honestly think they're fairly priced for the amount of raw power you're getting. Whilst Xbox stuck at the £449.99 RRP longer than PS5 they have now also raised their RRP to £479.99 matching the PS5. If you're after a PS5 finance guide we have that also.
Due to the fact the Xbox Series X consoles do have a decently high initial cost we wanted to put together a finance guide to group all the UK's various options for spreading the cost of your new Xbox Series X purchase. We already compare Xbox Series X prices and deals but in this guide, we're going to break down all the options you have for purchasing an Xbox Series X console so you can choose the one that suits you.
The article will be split into the following categories (use the handy anchor links to scroll down to your preferred option)
Here are some important common payment terms that we will use throughout the article:
- Buy now pay later
If you're looking to purchase an Xbox Series X but don't have the cash right now and don't want to put any upfront money you can choose a buy now pay later finance plan. These plans differ in the length you can pay them off depending on the plan you select, so make sure to pay attention to this when you're making your purchase. Payment plans can be anywhere from 4 months to 12 months.
- Monthly Finance
Another common finance plan offered by retailers is to buy an Xbox Series X through monthly instalments. This is most certainly an attractive option for anyone who does not want to pay for a console in one lump sum. It also benefits those who are paid monthly and it gives you more time to generate the funds to put towards your Xbox Series X. The drawback of these plans if they often come with interest attached although some retailers do sometimes have 0% options which we will of course tell you about in this article.
- Flexible Payments
A flexible payment plan will allow you to pay for the Xbox Series X over a set period of time. You will tend to have a contractual monthly payment that you must pay however you can pay more than this if you can afford it. The faster you pay this back the less interest you will accumulate.
Xbox All Access
Xbox All Access is a finance option that is provided by some retailers who have partnered with Xbox which bundles an Xbox Series X alongside 24 months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. This finance option is done via Klarna and will require you to pay monthly payments from £31.99 for 24 months but there is no upfront cost and no interest with this fixed contract as long as you don't miss any payments. They also offer the Xbox Series S for £21.99 a month for 24 months.
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate offers a lot of value with an Xbox Series X with a tonne of games already on the service as well as all new Xbox exclusives like Forza Motorsport and Starfield being available on the service day one.
But is Xbox All Access a good deal considering there are interest-free finance options available from certain retailers below? Well lets look into the numbers:
- £31.99 over 24 months leads to a total cost of £767.76 for Xbox All Access
- Xbox Series X RRP is £479.99 and 24 months of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate is £14.99 x 24 = £359.76 (direct from Xbox) if we add these together we get £839.75
- That means a saving of £71.99 for the same content with Xbox All Access
This means that you are playing slightly less with Xbox All Access if you were to buy a Series X at RRP and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate direct from Xbox which is the highest price. Whether this is worth it for you comes down to whether you want 2 years of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, if not then the reality is you'd be better off with a finance option below and getting monthly repayments on an Xbox Series X without the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate bundle. Also, you can pick up Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriptions for less than the £14.99 RRP offered by Xbox with key seller sites like CDKeys and not have to commit to 2 years.
Keep in mind you cannot cancel this 2-year subscription to Game Pass, it is part of the contract you are signing up for with Xbox All Access. Oh and yes you will own the console after the 2 year contract. Below are the retailers that currently offer Xbox All Access as an option to purchase an Xbox Series X console.
UK Retailers that are offering finance on the Xbox Series X
Your best option when grabbing an Xbox Series X is with a 0% interest finance plan where possible. This option means that as long as you pay back the listed selling price within the allotted time frame you will not incur any interest or extra fees. This option is available from a number of UK retailers that we will include below.
Argos Xbox Series X Finance
The best option when it comes to Argos is their Argos card which offers you an interest free credit plan with a period of up to 12 months. With this finance plan, you can pay back your owed amount at whatever rate suits you as long as it is paid back within the 12 month period. As long as you pay back within these 12 months you will incur no interest or extra fees on your Xbox Series X purchase. You can sign up for an Argos Card at checkout or using the link above or by going into an Argos store. The typical interest if you do not pay back the full balance within the 12-month period is 34.9% typical APR variable.
Argos also offer a monthly payment plan which will enable you to take out a finance plan on an Xbox Series X console ranging from 18-48 months. This may be a good option if you need longer to pay for your console but this payment plan will come with 19.9% interest APR which will mean the console will cost you significantly more RRP over time.
Currys Xbox Series X Finance Options
Currys offer a flexible payment plan ranging between 12 and 36 months with a fixed interest rate of 29.9%. You can choose to add a deposit which will reduce the total amount paid as this deposit will obviously incur no interest. Currys have been a very reliable stocker of the Xbox Series X and tend to have plenty of bundles available with the latest Xbox games.
Currys representative example: Xbox Series X £479.00. No deposit pay 36 monthly payments of £19.41. Total amount payable £698.76. Rate of interest 24.9% (variable) 24.9% APR representative.
Currys is also offering a 0% interest option with a buy now pay later scheme over 12 months. If you settle in full within the 12 months then you will incur no interest. This option is offered on a promotional basis and is currently available on the Solus Xbox Series X as well as a lot of Xbox Series X bundles. However, there are no Xbox Series S deals available on this 0% interest offer.
AO Xbox Series X Finance
AO offers 4 different finance options
- Flexible payments
Similar to a credit card, there is no fixed amount of time you just need to pay a minimum contractual payment and more if you can afford it. This will come with interest.
- Monthly instalment plans
Pay a fixed amount each month with options of 24, 36 and 48 months. This will come with 29.9% APR representative variable interest.
- Buy now, pay later
Pay nothing when you initially buy an Xbox Series X but you then must pay in full to avoid interest over a promotional period that will vary depending on what AO is currently offering at checkout, it would normally be 6 or 12 months. If you have not paid off by this agreed period then you will be forced to pay interest on your purchase.
- 0% interest instalment plan
Pay 0% interest on selected electricals with a payment plan with fixed amounts each month over a set period. If available you will see 0% interest payment plans as a promotional offer, they are not offered year round with AO.
Whilst AO have a good range of Xbox Series X bundles available the main issue if that a lot of their options are only available during certain promotional periods and they do not always offer options like 0% interest plans on the Xbox Series X console.
ShopTo Xbox Series X Finance
ShopTo offers options for financing via PayPal and Klarna. The PayPal available credit option at ShopTo is their monthly payment plan which offers a fixed duration with 21.9% APR interest with a limit of up to £1200.
The Klarna scheme available does offer a 0% interest option if you can pay the balance off within 30 days which may be useful to some people. However if you aren't able to pay within 30 days you can choose to pay over 6, 12, 24 or 36 months at 18.9% APR.
GAME Interest Free Xbox Series X Finance
GAME has been a very reliable stocker of Xbox Series X since its release back in November 2020 with plenty of bundles to choose from. GAME offers a 0% interest option via PayPal credit with their online store. This service allows for you to finance any item over £99 with 0% interest as long as the full amount is paid back within 4 months. If you do not pay back within 4 months you will incur interest. You can choose to pay this however you would like as long as it is paid off in the 4-month period and you pay back the minimum monthly repayment which is 2%. You can sign up for Paypal credit using the Paypal checkout process when purchasing an Xbox Series X from GAME.
As mentioned in the Xbox All Access section as well this service is offered directly through GAME and is a solid option for those of you looking for a 0% finance Xbox Series X with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate
eBay Interest Free Xbox Series X Finance
eBay similar to GAME also offer PayPal Credit so this is the same as what was just mentioned. You can spread your payments over 4 months on purchases over 4 months interest free as long as you pay within those 4 months with the 2% minimum monthly repayment.
An advantage of eBay when picking up an Xbox Series X is their exclusive voucher codes that tend to run every few weeks. These voucher codes go up to 20% with select retailers which can lead to you getting an Xbox Series X for under RRP. This does require some patience though and isn't very common as retailers will deliberately increase prices when these vouchers are available. When these offers are running we always post them on our home page and on the GamingDeals Twitter account so be sure to check these out.
MuscieMagpie Refurbished Xbox Series X Finance Options
Now if you wanna reduce the initial cost of an Xbox Series X one solid way to do this is to go with a refurbished console. One of the biggest providers of refurbished consoles in the UK is MusicMagpie and they also offer some 0% interest finance plans. MusicMagpie also offers PayPal credits 0% interest-free over 4 months. In all honesty, at the time of writing refurbished Xbox Series X consoles are still a little too expensive and we'd suggest you're probably better off purchasing a new console until the prices come down on pre-owned and refurbished devices.
Personal Finance Options
If you'd rather look for options outside of those offered by retailers there are a selection of personal finance options you could use for purchasing an Xbox Series X.
Klarna, Paypal and Zilch are some options currently available and we'll outline how they work below, so you can see if these options work for you.
Klarna Split Payments
Klarna is pretty commonplace now among many retailers and is becoming more and more popular.
Klarna offers shoppers the option to pay in full up to 30 days later or split the cost into 3 interest-free monthly instalments.
- Pay in 3 instalments
Spread the cost of your purchase into 3 interest-free instalments. The first payment on the initial purchase, with remaining instalments scheduled automatically every 30 days.
- Pay in 30 days
Pay up to 30 days later. No interest. No fees, when you pay on time.
Please see the Klarna for full terms and conditions
PayPal Credit
PayPal offers 0% interest for 4 months on all purchases of £99.00 or more, the balance is added to your PayPal account meaning as long as the retailer offers PayPal as a payment option you can utilise this credit limit.
This means that you won’t pay any interest on your balance for 4 months. You still have to make the minimum repayment on your balance each month which is usually 2% but other than that this option is pretty flexible.
For more information, please see the PayPal Credit website
Zilch Credit Finance
Zilch provides you with a digital credit card when you sign up and the limit will be based on if you link your bank details to the service. Zilch will allow you to pay over 6 weeks so if this sounds good to you it's worth considering. The payment scheme then works as follows:
- 1st payment at Checkout = 25%
- 2nd payment after 2 weeks = 50%
- 3rd payment after 4 weeks = 75%
- Final payment after 6 weeks = 100%
Please see the Zilch website for full terms and conditions
Xbox Series X Bad Credit Finance
If you have a bad credit history/rating it is unlikely you will be able to secure a new Xbox Series X from any of the retailers mentioned.
If you're looking for a specific Xbox Series X bundle then check out our best Xbox Series X deals page where we scour the UK retailers for stock and great bundles for Microsoft's flagship console and compare the prices for you.
NB: The information in this guide does not constitute financial advice, always do your own research on top to ensure it's right for your specific circumstances. The content in our guide focuses on finance options and interest rates, not the level of service offered.
