Top Cash Advance Apps in 2021 — Get Your Paycheck Sooner

For most of us, payday just doesn’t seem to come soon enough. Despite your best efforts at belt-tightening and penny-pinching, you simply can’t prepare for every unexpected expense. Luckily, technology has been working on a solution to make credit accessible to everyone at a moment’s notice. The latest and greatest result of that progress are cash advance apps, which allow you to get funding almost instantly with merely a few taps on your mobile device. 

To help introduce you to these apps and select the right one for you, we methodically reviewed the best ones in this guide. 

Let’s get started! 

Affiliate Disclosure

Overview — Earnin tops our list of cash advance app reviews primarily due to its lack of fees and good attitude toward responsible lending. 

Earnin started under the name Activehours, and it has a unique system to let you access your wages before payday. That is, you can withdraw a portion of the money you’ve already earned. So instead of waiting for your next payday, you get the money within the next business day. Then, Earnin debits it from your bank account when you get paid. 

Key  features — The following qualities make Earnin worth all your attention:

• No interests or fees — As unlikely as it seems, all you have to do is pay back the credit on your payday with no extra costs. But cash advance apps like Earnin have to produce revenue, and it does so through tipping. When you withdraw any amount from Earnin, you can choose to leave an optional tip of up to $14.
• Overdraft protection — You can opt-in to Earnin’s Balance Shield, which will deposit up to $100 to your bank account if it drops below $100. Earnin will debit the deposited amount on your next payday. 
• Health Aid — You can submit photos of your medical bill and Earnin will work with your healthcare provider to negotiate down the total. Alternatively, the Earnin app team can help you set up a payment plan.

Pros:

• Optional tipping instead of fees
• Potential for instant funding
• Balance Shield can help you avoid overdrafts
• Can help you reduce medical bills
• Available in all 50 states

Cons:

• Tips can quickly get out of hand
• Doesn’t currently support work-from-home employees

Overview — Apps like MoneyLion don’t exclusively focus on cash advances. But even if cash advances aren’t its top priority, the Instacash service it provides is on par with the industry’s best. 

MoneyLion doesn’t need to see employment history. Instead, you just need a checking account to qualify as long as:

• it’s at least two months old
• shows regular income deposits
• has a consistently positive balance
• it’s active

If you qualify, MoneyLion works like any other same-day cash advance app for up to $250 per pay period. Then, MoneyLion will examine your bank account and set the due date to pay it back on the next expected deposit. 

Key features — Here is what makes MoneyLion stand out:

• MoneyLion personal loans — MoneyLion also offers credit-builder loans to help rebuild your credit. You may be able to borrow money with no prepayment fees despite a bad credit score. MoneyLion reports to all major credit unions, allowing you to build credit responsibly. 
• Turbo delivery — Normal funding time for cash advances from MoneyLion is 12–48 hours to a MoneyLion RoarMoney account or 3–5 business days to an external account. If you need an instant cash advance, you can receive it for a fee of $3.99 and $4.99, respectively. 
• False representation — MoneyLion faced legal action in Virginia for falsely claiming it was licensed to operate in the state and offering loans at high APRs. It ultimately cashed out $2.7 million in restitution to customers. However, this action is unrelated to its cash advance service. 

Pros:

• No monthly fee or interest rate
• Fast delivery with a MoneyLion account
• Credit-builder loans available
• No transaction limit per day
• Five-day grace period from the due date

Cons:

• Instant funding costs extra
• Some features require a premium membership

Overview — Dave is a financial services app that gained prominence after securing funding from billionaire entrepreneur, Mark Cuban. Primarily, its stated aim is to help people prevent overdraft fees. 

That’s a tall order, considering overdraft fees added up to $11 billion in the US in 2019, and it shares some of the same financial health values as Earnin. Nevertheless, apps like Earnin and Dave are gaining a substantial following rapidly. 

In short, you link Dave to your bank account, and it sends you alerts when you’re in danger of going into an overdraft. You can receive an advance of up to $100 for an optional tip that you’ll need to pay back by your next paycheck. 

Key features — Dave has several extremely user-friendly features:

• Payback options — You can let Dave set automatic paybacks for your cash advances (it will choose the date when it expects you’ll receive a deposit). Or you can choose to pay the advances back manually at any point. 
• No late fees — There’s no penalty for paying your advance later than the due date. However, you won’t receive another advance, and you may be banned from the app if you abuse this feature.
• Side Hustle — For no additional cost, you can use Dave to search for gigs in your area. Several cash advance apps like Dave offer a similar service, but Dave is the best-rated one of the lot. 

Pros:

• Helps prevent overdraft fees
• Includes a budgeting tool that creates a customized plan for you
• Search for gigs with Dave’s Side Hustle service
• Manual or automatic payments
• Doesn’t charge late fees

Cons:

• Merely one advance per pay period
• The maximum cash advance is only $100

Overview — Chime is a member of a new breed of banking providers born on the web. As a digital bank, it doesn’t have a lot of overhead that’s usually associated with traditional banking. Hence, it offers numerous benefits in comparison. 

Also, unlike apps that loan you money, Chime doesn’t provide on-demand cash advances or payday loans. 

What it does provide is free overdraft protection of up to $100 that works with Chime’s debit card. If you qualify for Chime’s Spot Me program, and a charge would put you in overdraft, Chime will cover the missing balance (up to the max advance) and debit it to your next deposit. 

Key features — Because it provides overdraft protection already, there are few cash advance apps that work with Chime. Nevertheless, a Chime account has several other benefits:

• No upkeep fees — Chime’s debit card account has no monthly minimum balance or account fees. You’ll only have to pay withdrawal fees when you use the card out-of-network.
• Early deposit — When someone deposits money to your Chime account, you can access it two days earlier (max) than you would at most banks. When you need money now, a couple of days can make a huge difference. 
• Credit builder card — Chime offers a credit card acting like a debit card that helps you build credit. With Chime’s Credit Builder account, the money you can spend on the credit card cannot exceed the money you’ve transferred to the account. The credit gets paid off automatically, and Chime reports it to credit bureaus as “timely payment.”  

Pros:

• Automatic overdraft protection if you qualify
• No late fees
• Credit-building tools
• Early paycheck deposits

Cons:

• Only covers overdrafts on debit card purchases
• Starts with only a $20 cash advance

Overview — Branch is unique on this list in that it’s primarily an employer-side service. Your employer doesn’t have to use Branch for you to gain access to cash advances, but you might be waitlisted otherwise. 

Unlike apps that loan you money based on fixed limits, Branch’s system checks the hours you’ve already worked to support your request. If you qualify for an advance, Branch will advance you up to 50% of your upcoming paycheck. 

Then, Branch debits the advance amount from your next paycheck deposit. 

Alternatively, you can pay an additional fee of $2.99–$4.99 (based on the advance amount) to receive the money instantly to an external account. 

Key features — Branch provides a broader range of services as well. 

• Branch Wallet and debit card — You can open a checking account with Branch and receive an associated debit card. Cash advances to your Branch card are instant with no additional fee. 
• Early paycheck — rather than borrow money from the app, you can deposit paychecks directly to your Branch Wallet and get them as soon as your employer runs payroll. This feature depends on your employer’s instructions, but you could get paid up to two days before your payday. 
• Branch paycards — Your employer can order Branch debit cards to keep on-hand for employees. Employers can then transfer wages, tips, and other rewards directly to each employee as needed rather than wait for payday. 

Pros:

• Instant advance with Branch account
• Supports contactless payments
• Employers can distribute wages instantly to Branch cards
• No credit checks or contracts required
• No late fees

Cons:

• Doesn’t support remote employees
• A cash advance cannot exceed the wages you already earned

Overview — In the same vein as similar cash advance apps, Empower lets you receive a cash advance and repays it from your next forecasted direct deposit. And while it charges no late fees or interest, Empower’s terms allow it to withdraw fractional amounts from your account until the entire advance is settled. 

You’ll need to provide proof of regular income and give Empower access to your bank account to qualify for cash advances. Or, if you open an Empower account, you may qualify more easily and receive free instant funding. 

Key features — Among instant cash advance apps, a monthly fee of $8 is a glaring drawback. But Empower makes up for it, to a degree, with several benefits:

• Bill negotiation help — You can ask Empower to reduce the amount you owe on certain bills. Its negotiators will contact your bill provider and attempt to work out either a reduced amount or a payment plan. 
• Savings assistance — Empower allows you to set weekly savings targets and let it help you reach them. Moreover, Empower’s system will examine your transaction history and habits to determine when’s a good time to set money aside in your savings account and automatically make up to four transfers a week. 
• Human finance coaching — If you need help making financial decisions, you can text one of Empower’s human coaches directly from the app. Payday loans apps can lead to poor financial management, so a bit of guidance goes a long way.  

Pros:

• Free instant fund delivery if you qualify
• 14-day free trial with full features
• Empower checking account generates interest
• Free financial coaching
• Optional recommendations to save money

Cons:

• Cannot select cash advance amount
• Monthly fee

Overview — Wealthfront is a full-fledged investment service that looks for innovative ways to help you earn money from your savings. It also offers a mobile banking account to access your paychecks faster. 

And while it’s not strictly a cash advance app, it can help you receive your paycheck sooner than you would from a traditional bank. Depending on your payroll provider, you could receive payments as much as two days in advance. 

Now, that may not be what you need to get you through a tight spot. However, Wealthfront can be an invaluable long-term partner if you can afford to sit on your money for just a little while despite not offering fast payday loans online.  

Key features — It has some genuinely innovative elements too that make investing accessible at any income level. 

• Hybrid checking/savings account — Wealthfront’s cash account acts like any other checking account, allowing you 24/7 access to your money. However, you’ll also receive 0.35% APY on your money, which is on par with some money market and cash management accounts and eight times the national average. 
• PassivePlus investing — Wealthfront uses a combination of investment strategies to produce steady returns on investments based on your goals. If you don’t need money right now, you can put it to work for you through Wealthfront.

Financial planning suite — You can use Wealthfront to check your financial status against several projects, such as taking a year off for travel or purchasing a new home. Then, Wealthfront analyzes your finances to show you how feasible your projects are.

Pros:

• Earn annual yield on your checking account
• On-demand customized financial planning advice
• Cutting-edge investment strategies 
• No account fees
• Fully automated investing and fund allocation

Cons:

• Not an instant cash advance app

Overview — Varo is a nationwide digital bank that only recently introduced a cash advance feature to its services. Varo’s funding lies somewhere between what’s offered by payday loans and cash advance apps. 

Varo customers can request up to $20 with no associated fees. Any amount above $20 carries a variable fee up to $5 for a $100 cash advance. However, Varo won’t start assessing any cash advance fees until January 31, 2021. 

Unlike cash advance apps like Earnin and Dave, Varo doesn’t request or accept tips for cash advances.

Cash advances from Varo have a 30-day payback deadline, but there are no penalties for late payments. The only consequence for non-payment is that you won’t be able to qualify for another cash advance. 

Key features — Additionally, a Varo account has the following benefits:

• Early direct deposit — Qualifying customers can sign up to receive their paycheck immediately when payroll funds are disbursed instead of waiting for a deposit. Varo will deposit the paycheck amount to your account up to two days ahead of schedule, which is faster than traditional banks. 
• Transparent fees — In contrast to most other cash advance apps on this list, Varo charges a flat fee for cash advances. You’ll see the price when you accept the advance, and there are no further charges or tipping.  
• Visa debit card — With a minimum opening deposit of $5, you’ll receive a contactless Varo Visa debit card that doesn’t have monthly fees, transfer fees, or overdraft fees. You can use the card anywhere Visa is accepted and at 55,000 ATMs nationwide. 

Pros:

• Simple fee structure
• Access to Varo Visa card
• Early paycheck deposit option
• No account fees
• Allows additional advances as soon as the previous one is repaid

Cons:

• Relatively expensive fees for advances over $20
• Cash deposits incur fees 

Overview — As its name implies, Brigit is an app that helps you bridge the gap between paydays. To that end, Brigit keeps track of your banking activity and protects you from overdrafts. 

When Brigit predicts an expense that will overdraft your account, you’ll get a notification and the option to have Brigit advance you up to $250 to prevent the overdraft. 

The notification will include a payback date that Brigit determines based on your account activity.

What does that mean exactly?

Well, cash advance apps that work like Brigit use your recent deposits to guess when the next deposit will be. But Brigit can get it wrong. 

If that happens, you can extend the due date by one day directly from the app with no questions asked. 

Key features — Brigit has a few other helpful features, as well.

• Earn extra income — The app aggregates part-time and full-time jobs you can do on the side to earn more money. You can search the directory and apply for jobs directly from the app. 
• Credit monitoring — Brigit doesn’t do credit checks, nor does it require any credit score to offer cash advances. But you can opt-in to let the Brigit app keep track of your credit and receive notifications when it changes and why it changed.   
• Auto advances — If you’re in danger of overdrafting your account, Brigit can cover the expense automatically to prevent overdraft fees. However, you’re still limited to one cash advance at a time, and the auto-advance will not activate if you have a pending advance to repay.  

Pros:

• Automatic overdraft protection
• Free budget tracking tools
• Optional credit monitoring service
• Easily extend the due date for repayment

Cons:

• Doesn’t support irregular pay schedules
• Membership fees

Overview — Current is a banking app that strives to make premium financial services accessible to everyone. Whether it fully succeeds in that mission is debatable, but it does offer a useful cash advance alternative in the form of automatic overdraft protection. 

The concept is simple. 

You set up a Current account with direct deposit and opt-in to the Overdrive service. If you would overdraft that account, Current advances you up to $100 to prevent it. Much like cash advance apps with no credit check required. 

Current will collect the advance amount from your next direct deposit to the account. There are no fees or interest rates to worry about. Think of it as an emergency reserve at the bottom of your money tank. 

Key features — Here’s what else Current offers:

• Faster paycheck — In addition to functioning as a cash advance app for overdraft fees, Current can help you access your salary up to two days ahead of schedule.  
• Instant gas hold refunds — If you’ve ever tried to purchase something right after gassing up with a low balance, you know how frustrating gas station holds can be. Current refunds gas holds instantly to let you make purchases uninterrupted. 
• Savings pods — A Current premium account comes with three pods to distribute your money for different purposes. You can also set savings goals for every pod.

Pros:

• You can reduce your limit at any time
• Refunds gas holds instantly
• Teen banking tools for parents
• Earn points you can redeem for cash at select merchants
• Lets you put funds into saving pods for specific goals

Cons:

• Cash advance only works with debit card purchases
• Poor customer service reviews

Payday advances, payday loans, salary loans — call it what you will. 

Short-term unsecured loans have been around for a long time. And the latest iteration of this type of lending is cash advances through mobile applications. 

These mobile cash advance services are similar to fast payday loans available online. But the crucial difference is that most of them don’t charge interest rates. 

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t any fees involved; they’re just more subtle. 

So, to help you wade through the fine print and make sense of these options, we put together this handy guide. 

Keep reading to find out how to pick the one that works best for your specific needs. 

Fee Structure

To skirt usury laws, most cash advance apps don’t charge interest rates. That works in your favor because you can essentially get your money sooner than you normally would free of charge — if you use them correctly, that is.

In place of traditional fees, most of these apps encourage users to “tip” based on the advance amount. In some cases, such as the Earnin app, you lose some features if you don’t tip. But, in general, it seems counterintuitive to ever tip since most apps assure users tipping doesn’t affect their future advances. 

Some apps resort to subscriptions to a premium plan before you can access the cash advance feature. 

But savvy readers will pick up on an important detail about subscription-based payday loans apps. 

Gating loans behind a subscription is dangerously close to violating the no-cost advance exemption to the Payday Lending Rule. So, most of those who offer subscription services also give you the option to get the advance without a subscription. 

Check the merchant’s terms of service for the process to access cash advances without any subscription fees. Despite making it seem like a subscription is required, it often isn’t. 

Advance Amounts

Generally, you want to choose a service that can cover the typical cash advance you’re going to need. But there’s a little more to it than that. 

Some cash advance apps don’t let you choose the advance amount. Instead, you apply for an advance, and the app lets you know the amount you’re eligible to receive — take it or leave it. 

That’s usually not a good idea unless your expenses are highly volatile, and you don’t know how much you’ll need. 

You should also take the time to understand how each service determines your maximum allowed advances. While some don’t disclose the exact formula, most let you know the broad strokes so you can try to work toward a higher maximum.

The best cash advance app is the one that offers flexibility rather than a high limit.  

Deposit Options

Many of the options on this list, and most that aren’t, provide additional benefits if you open an associated banking account. Some even require it to provide advances. 

While mobile banking sounds good in principle, you may run into the problem of not being able to deposit cash or checks since there’s no physical location. Instead, you may be forced to deposit your money through third-party service providers who charge a fee. 

Or, even worse, you may not be able to deposit money at all if it isn’t a direct deposit. 

Consider how you’ll be using the account before you commit to a free cash advance app. 

Employer-Side Apps 

Some of the apps are designed for employers rather than direct users. While most are available to the general public, they provide additional benefits when used by employers to disburse wages. 

If you find an employer-side app with favorable cash advance options, you may want to convince your employer to adopt it and gain access to those features. 

Many are feature-rich and beneficial so you probably won’t have to do a whole lot of convincing. 

Nevertheless, it’s an added hassle that you may want to avoid. 

Extra Features

Next-gen banking is becoming more mainstream by the second. And that means cash advances, like the ones offered by these apps that loan you money, will eventually be a standard part of banking. 

In other words, many of these services are largely interchangeable in terms of the cash advance options.

That makes the other benefits they provide a pivotal part of your decision. 

Getting your paycheck early, credit monitoring, bill reduction — all these are valuable potential additions.

So don’t forget to scan through the ancillary benefits before you make your decision.

Whether you’re just trying to figure out how to balance your holiday spending or struggling to make ends meet, cash advance apps offer a friendlier alternative to payday loans. 

However, the companies offering this type of credit are still working out the kinks and figuring out the best way to make it sustainable. And despite the friendly we’re-all-in-this-together-message of some of these cash advance apps, they still support spending money you don’t yet have. 

Try to ensure three things:

1. The service is absolutely transparent about the fees it charges for advances. 
2. If you choose to tip, don’t tip more than a reasonable APR would be for the advance.
3. Use these kinds of apps only for legitimate emergencies to avoid getting into a cycle of debt. 

Bear these in mind, and you can safely apply for a cash advance app of your choice!