u/Money_Seaweed_1895

It took over a year, but we've tested out every cash advance app we could find - more than 30 of them. We found a few hidden gems and some pretty serious duds. We dug pretty deep to find some of these, but let us know if there are any we missed!

Which apps do you goto first for extra cash and which ones do you regret ever downloading?

Chime is offering a $100 new account signup bonus for a limited time. You can use most of their banking features with no fees, and their My Pay cash advance is the lowest cost advance product there is, with no subscription fee and express fees of just $2 - $5 (plus no fees at all if you wait 24 hours for your advance.

It's not hard to qualify, but there are a few steps to follow, so pay attention:

1. Sign up with Chime here. Offer available to new customers only.
2. Set up and make at least one direct deposit to Chime of at least $200 within 45 days
3. Activate the physical debit card Chime will mail to you with in 14 days

Chime will post your bonus to your account within 10 business days of completing these items.

Full terms and conditions: https://www.chime.com/policies/terms/invite-friends-terms-and-conditions-100-evergreen-february-2025/?embedded=true

Anyone used Upstart Cash Line yet? What was the process like? How much did you qualify for? Would you recommend it?

https://reddit.com/link/1u9lm8g/video/iw6j14gii48h1/player

We sat down with real people about their experience using cash advance apps. This one's with Heather. She got caught in the loop after losing her job and ended up juggling Dave, Cleo, Earnin, MoneyLion and a few others just to cover rent.

The part that stuck with me: she'd budget around getting her usual $500 from Dave, then one cycle they only approved her for around $17 and the whole plan collapsed. So she downloaded more apps to make rent, and that's how it snowballed.

She also gets into doing an ACH revoke on Earnin as a last resort, and why she plans to pay it back when she's able to...which I know is a touchy subject around here.

Her #1 takeaway was basically: borrow the least you can, pay it back as fast as possible, and never count on getting the same approval twice.

Has anyone here had an approval suddenly drop on you like that when you were counting on it?

How many apps were you stacking before you found a way out?

We kept seeing the same questions come up over and over on here. Can you actually revoke ACH, will it tank your credit, will they send you to collections, what happens on the next payday?

So we made a video that walks through the whole thing from start to finish. It covers why most of these apps aren't even structured as loans, why a lot of them legally can't sue you or report you (it's right there in their own terms), how to actually revoke step by step including the exact wording to send, what to do if an app ignores you, and the backup options through your bank or Plaid.

We also spent time on the part most people skip, which is what actually happens in the days and weeks after you stop paying, so you go in knowing what to expect instead of guessing.

It walks through the real risks, and it explains why common advice on this sub, like just abandoning your bank account, is a really bad move.

So we're genuinely curious what's stopping you from pulling the plug, is it the fear of collections, the credit hit, or just not knowing if it even works?

It is AMAZING that so many people on this sub have discovered that they don't need to be trapped in the cash advance cycle. Revoking ACH authorization really is practically a magic trick to put a stop the weekly repayments, costly fees and huge stress that these apps can create.

Information is power, so this video shows you exactly what you need to do, why it is legit, and what these apps will do to try to get their money back. (Hint: often not much.). It also highlights some of the common mistakes that people make in trying to stop repayments (which unfortunately is often the advice given on this sub).

Have you tried revoking ACH authorization? How did it work out for you?

Which ones are you using? What's your go to and why?

Keep seeing a steady stream of posts about people struggling with cash advance apps (Earnin, Brigit, MoneyLion, Cleo, Tilt, FloatMe, etc.) and the advice in this sub seems to generally be an admonishment to earn more / spend less / wean yourself off of them.

Yes, that's all true, but what hardly gets mentioned here is that there is a fairly easy and completely legit way to stop repaying these apps almost immediately and the consequences are generally pretty minimal.

First, the backstory:

Cash advance apps work very hard for their products to NOT be classified as a loan, since that means a lot more cost and regulation. That's why they don't charge interest and instead make their money off of 'voluntary fees' like paying an express fee to get your money immediately. They also explicitly waive most of the rights to force you to repay that traditional lenders have. Read the Terms and Conditions for most apps and you'll see that they won't refer you to a collections agency or sue you and don't report to credit bureaus. (The Dave app is a notable exception to this.)

Since they don't charge interest or late fees, the main consequence of not repaying is that you can't use the app to borrow again. That's pretty much it in most cases, and probably not the worse outcome if you want to break the borrow/repay/borrow cycle.

Ok, but the apps automatically repay themselves via your bank account as soon as your next paycheck arrives, so how do you actually get them stop?

This is the magical 'hack' and it really works and really is completely legal.

So when you first borrow from a cash advance app, you give them permission to access your bank account electronically to send you funds and take their repayments. This is called ACH Authorization.

And the law (specifically Consumer Finance Protection Bureau regulations) says that if you gave permission to access your account, you can take it back at any time for any reason. In many cases, you simply need to inform the app that you "revoke ACH authorization" meaning that you no longer will allow them to take money from your bank account.

You can do this via email or sometimes through the app's customer support chat. All you need to say is something like this:

>I am formally revoking authorization for [App Name] to withdraw any further funds from my account (ending in XXXX) at [Bank Name] via ACH. Effective immediately, please cancel any pending or scheduled debits. I request written confirmation that this request has been received and processed. Thank you.

They need to honor this...and they will! Your payments will come to a stop almost immediately (though you generally do need to provide a few days advanced notice for this to take affect.).

In many cases, THAT'S IT. No more watching your paycheck disappear minutes after it arrives, no more worrying if they'll lend you the same amount the next day, no more paying hundreds of dollars in fees in each month. No more repayments, period.

Now, you do still owe the debt and you won't be able to re-borrow if/until you repay it, but re-read the consequences spelled out above. Very little is going to happen to you.

This really is an incredible technique that more people should know about!

If you want to learn more, this post on r/cashadvanceapps lays everything out in a very detailed way (and that sub is a good one for questions on this).

After seeing so many comments and posts on this sub offering to help with a loan or to gift cash, decided to reply to a half dozen.

TL;DR THEY WERE ALL SCAMS!

They either:

1. Want your cash app / zelle / paypal account info so they can steal from you later
2. Want you to send them money to 'verify your account' so they can steal from you now
3. Want you to do some sketchy account verification that will then associate whatever nonsense they're going to do with you
4. Sign up and bet on a sports betting site so they get the referral fee

Sending thanks to the moderators who seem to zap these pretty quickly!

I'm getting sued for $10,000 for causing minor damage to a client's kitchen. No (reasonable) lawyer would ever take this case and all of the documents are clearly written by Chat GPT. Now I have to deal with this mess.

Backstory: I was installing a new vent in a client's kitchen when I slipped and broke one of their kitchen cabinet doors. Apologized and said I would pay to get a new one and install it myself, which the guy seemed cool with. Ordered a new door, which was going to take about 3 weeks to arrive. In the meantime, the jerk sued me for $10,000 in small claims court with a ridiculous claim that he'd need all new cabinets, counters, etc. Complete B.S.

But here's the thing: The lawsuit was clearly written by Chat GPT. There is no way this guy could string three good sentences together but all of a sudden AI makes him look a law school grad and now I've got the stress and cost of dealing with it.

My brother-in-law is a lawyer and thinks he get it settled for $1,000 which sucks, but not the worst thing in the world.

My big worry is that this is our AI future, with people firing off lawsuits left and right at the drop of a hat. Anyone else experience something like this? Will it make insurance and other costs go through the roof?