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Instalment plans explained

What you pay, when you pay it, and what happens if something goes wrong.

Last updated 16 August 2026

This document is in draft and under legal review. It is published for transparency and does not yet constitute the final agreement. The agreement that binds you is the one you sign at a PataSimu shop.

1. The idea

You take the phone home now and pay for it over an agreed period. Until you have finished paying, the phone is financed by PataSimu; once you have finished, it is yours outright with nothing further owing.

2. What makes up the price

Four things, and you see all four before you commit:

  • The cash price What the phone would cost if you paid for it all at once, today. It is shown on every phone's page.
  • The deposit A part of the cash price that you pay at the shop when you collect the phone. It is a share of the cash price set by PataSimu, so a more expensive phone has a larger deposit. The exact amount is shown to you before you choose.
  • The security fee A one-off charge, also a share of the cash price, that covers securing the phone on the plan. It is charged once, not every period.
  • The instalment What is left after the deposit, spread evenly across the payments in the plan you chose. Paying more often means each payment is smaller; paying over a longer period means more payments.

Together these give a total price on the plan — the cash price plus PataSimu's charge for letting you pay over time. It is always shown alongside the instalment, so you can see the cost of spreading the payments and compare it against paying cash.

[The full schedule of fees and charges, including any charge not described above, how PataSimu's charge for credit is expressed, and any disclosure of an annual cost of credit required of a credit provider — legal to confirm and to draft in the form required.]

3. Choosing your plan

You choose two things: how often you pay — daily, weekly or monthly — and over how long. The options available are set by PataSimu and are shown live on each phone's page and in the application, so you can see exactly what each combination would cost before you pick one.

4. What is indicative, and what is fixed

Every figure on this website is indicative. It is worked out from the price and terms in force at the moment you look, and it is confirmed at your PataSimu shop before you sign. Prices move, and the terms can be revised.

The figures that actually bind you are the ones written into the agreement you sign. Read them, and if a number in front of you does not match what you saw on this website, ask the agent to explain the difference before you sign anything.

5. How you pay

The deposit and the security fee are paid at the shop when you collect the phone. Instalments are then paid on the dates set out in your agreement, through the payment channels named in it. Never pay anyone in cash for an instalment without a receipt, and never send a payment to a personal number that somebody gives you over the phone.

[The payment channels PataSimu accepts, the payee details, when a payment counts as received, how payments are applied, and how a customer obtains a statement of account — commercial and legal to confirm.]

6. If you miss a payment

Talk to us early. If you know you are going to be short, tell us before the payment is due rather than after. There is far more we can do while a plan is on track than once it has fallen behind.

What you can expect if a payment is missed:

  • We will remind you, using the phone number on your account.
  • Your phone may be restricted through device supervision until the plan is back on track. Supervision is explained on our device supervision page, including the honest limits of what it does and does not cover.
  • If payments stop altogether, PataSimu may end the plan and take steps to recover the phone.

Falling behind does not cancel what you have already paid towards the phone, and it does not change the total you agreed. What it can do is cost you the use of the phone in the meantime.

[The operative default provisions: what counts as a default and after how long, any late-payment or arrears charge, the notice a customer must be given before a plan is ended or a device is restricted or recovered, the customer's right to cure a default, and the treatment of amounts already paid on termination — legal to draft. None of this is settled, and nothing on this page should be read as stating it.]
[Whether, and on what terms, a plan may be rescheduled or payments deferred where a customer is in genuine difficulty — commercial and legal to confirm.]

7. When the phone becomes yours

When you have made every payment in your plan, the phone is yours outright. Any supervision on it is removed and no further payment is owed. Keep your final receipt.

[When and how title in the device passes to the customer, the form of the completion confirmation PataSimu issues, and the timescale for removing device supervision — legal and operations to confirm.]

8. Paying early

You may settle the balance of your plan before the end.

[Whether early settlement reduces the total payable and by how much it is calculated, and any early-settlement charge — commercial and legal to confirm. Until this is settled we make no statement either way, and an agent will tell you the position before you sign.]

9. If the phone is lost, stolen or damaged

Tell us and report a theft to the police. Losing the phone does not clear the balance: the plan is a debt for the phone, and it continues.

[Whether any insurance or device-protection cover is included or offered, who underwrites it, what it covers, and the customer's obligations on loss or theft — commercial and legal to confirm. No cover of any kind is claimed or implied on this website.]

10. Changing your plan

If your circumstances change, come and talk to an agent. Whether a plan can be changed depends on the agreement you signed.

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