EarnIn Cash Advance Review: Why It Earns LendEDU’s Highest Editorial Rating in 2024

Best Overall Cash Advance

5.0 _/5

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Cash Advance

• Up to $750 per pay period
• No interest or membership fees
• Standard cash advances don’t have any fees
• 24/7 mobile support
• Doesn’t affect your credit score
• Don’t have to have full-time employment to qualify

• Capped at $100 per day

Funding	$100/day and up to $750/pay period
Speed of advance	1 to 3 business days
Fees	$1.99 to $4.99 for instant cash advances

Founded in 2014, EarnIn cash advance was created to help responsibly employed borrowers with cash flow issues between paychecks. EarnIn stands out against competitors because it doesn’t charge mandatory fees or interest. After connecting your bank account with EarnIn, you can borrow up to $100 a day, or $750 per pay period.

EarnIn is ideal if you occasionally fall short of cash between paychecks but can easily repay the borrowed amount by your next paycheck. With average fees and larger cash advance amounts, EarnIn is a strong contender. Just watch when funds are deposited and debited from your account for repayment.

How an EarnIn cash advance works 

EarnIn is easy to use. To start borrowing money, users must first create and link a bank account. You then need to verify employment, which can be done in one of three ways:

• Provide a work email address 
• Download the app, which uses GPS data to verify where you work physically
• Manually upload your timesheet

Employment is also verified through banking activity. To qualify for a cash advance, you must make at least $320 per pay period. Once you’ve created an account and verified your information, you can request a cash advance. 

The funds can be used for anything. Unlike payday loans, EarnIn doesn’t charge any interest. Even if you borrow the maximum amount per pay period, there is never any interest. And unlike loans requiring a credit check, EarnIn requires a steady paycheck meeting the minimum threshold.

Additionally, there are no fees for using EarnIn, but you can pay to get your money faster. The standard delivery timeline is one to two business days, or you can pay a funding fee of $1.99 to $4.99 to receive your money the same day. 

You also have the option to tip EarnIn if you choose. Any fees or tips you voluntarily choose are debited from your account automatically on payday.  

Term	Details
Advance amounts	$100 a day; $750 per pay period
Fees	$1.99 to $4.99 fast funding fee and no fee for standard funding
Repayment time	Next paycheck
Funding time with a fee	$1.99 – $4.99
Funding time without a fee	1 – 2 business days

Who’s eligible for an EarnIn cash advance? 

EarnIn only has a few criteria borrowers must meet to be eligible for a cash advance. For starters, you must be steadily employed and be able to prove where you work. You can do this by providing an active work email, downloading the app and granting GPS access, or manually uploading your timesheets. 

Once EarnIn has verified your employment, you must also connect your bank account. This allows EarnIn to confirm that you make at least $320 per pay period. That bank account is also used for depositing cash advance funds and automatically debiting repayment. 

EarnIn’s eligibility requirements are very similar to its competitors. However, one aspect that may make EarnIn more appealing is that it’s not a part of any bank. Cash advances are becoming a little more common with some banks and credit unions, but you have to be an account holder to take advantage of them. 

Another advantage is that EarnIn allows its users to borrow more than most of its competition. You’re not limited to just a couple hundred dollars per pay period—if eligible, you can get advances up to $750 in total.

How does EarnIn compare to other cash advance apps? 

Compare EarnIn to other cash advance apps on the market today.

App	Maximum loan amounts	Fastest funding + fee
MoneyLion	$1,000	Up to $8.99 for Turbo delivery
Brigit	$250	Free for standard speed (2 to 3 business days); up to $3.99 for Express Delivery
Dave	$500	$3 – $25 depending on speed and receiving account
Empower	$250	Funds within 2 hours and $8 monthly fee
Klover	$200	Not listed online

EarnIn compares very well to the cash advance landscape. For starters, it allows you to take out higher advances than most competitors. While the standard is around $200, EarnIn borrowers can borrow as much as $750 per pay period. 

It’s also not alone in charging a fee to reduce the deposit speed of the cash advance. Companies like Dave, Brigit, and MoneyLion all have similar fees. However, EarnIn’s fee structure is considerably less than some options.

EarnIn also allows its users to keep their existing bank accounts. A few cash advance companies on the market are online banks in disguise. With EarnIn, you don’t have to switch your bank or open a new account to take advantage of its cash advance.

Should you use EarnIn’s cash advance app?

EarnIn makes creating an account easy and applying for fairly significant cash advances per pay period. The most surprising bit about EarnIn is that it doesn’t charge mandatory fees, which is a major advantage when you consider that you can borrow up to $750 per pay period.

EarnIn makes money in two different ways: 

• Optional tips
• Voluntarily choosing a fast-funding time

If you don’t pay for fast funding, which costs anywhere from $1.99 to $4.99, you’ll get your cash advance within one to two business days. If you pay the fee, you’ll get your money in minutes. Compared to payday loans, these fees are minor and are unlikely to create a cycle of debt for most users.

As long as using EarnIn doesn’t become habitual, it’s a great alternative to other financial products. Just be aware of when EarnIn will deposit your requested money and when it will automatically debit your outstanding balance. 

Many online complaints customers have left with review companies revolve around them thinking their requested money was already in their bank account or EarnIn taking payment too early. If you plan to use EarnIn, verify the money has been deposited into your bank account before you spend it, and know when your bank account will be charged for repayment.      

How to get an EarnIn cash advance 

Before downloading the EarnIn app, qualify and receive direct deposits into a checking account. Then, you can create an account within the app by entering some basic details. 

Once logged in, you’ll use Plaid, a financial services company, to connect your external bank account to your EarnIn account. You can choose your bank and log in through Plaid, which enables EarnIn to confirm your income. You’ll also connect a debit card to receive your money faster.

The next phase of the process is your employment verification. You can add a work email or share your GPS within the app. 

After verifying employment, you can use the app to transfer up to $100 a day, or $750 per pay period. If you’d like you can tip EarnIn whatever amount you think is fair—or skip this step altogether. 

Any amount borrowed, along with tips you agree to, is paid automatically once your paycheck hits your bank account. 

Is EarnIn a reputable lender? 

Source	Customer rating	Number of reviews
Trustpilot	4.1/5	144
Google	3.6/5	12
Better Business Bureau	3.11/5	337

87% of the reviews on Trustpilot are 1 star. Common complaints seem to revolve around EarnIn’s infrastructure not working well with customers’ bank accounts, which in turn appears to cause frequent overdrafts. Unhelpful customer service is another common complaint. 

With the Better Business Bureau, customers frequently dispute charges made to their accounts, and often have issues with when EarnIn recouped payment. While EarnIn appears to make a lot of efforts to resolve disputes left with the BBB, poor customer service is also routinely cited on the platform. 

On Google, no review can be found for the company apart from its app store rating, which is a review of the app’s performance and not the company itself. The app performs very well, and has a review of 4.6 out of 5, with 232,000 reviews. 

EarnIn cash advance FAQ

What products does EarnIn offer?

EarnIn is primarily known for its cash advance feature that allows you to access up to $100 per day of the money you’ve already earned, but it offers other products. One is Balance Shield Alerts, which sends you an alert if your bank account falls below a certain threshold. 

It also offers Balance Shield Cash Outs, which automatically cashes out up to $100 to your bank account to prevent it from falling to zero. EarnIn also has a product called Health Aid, which negotiates medical bills on your behalf to lower them.

Will EarnIn’s advance cause an overdraft fee?

Typically, EarnIn’s cash advance won’t cause an overdraft fee because it monitors your bank account and schedules repayments on your payday, ensuring the funds are available. 

However, you should still check your account balance regularly to prevent overdrafts. EarnIn isn’t responsible for any fees resulting from an overdraft.

How do you contact EarnIn customer service?

To contact EarnIn’s customer service, you can use live chat in the EarnIn mobile app. Here, you can submit a request or chat live with a support agent. Its customer service is open 24/7, except on major holidays. If you need phone support, call 888-537-9883

What happens if you don’t pay EarnIn back?

If you fail to repay the cash advance on your payday, EarnIn will attempt to draw the funds from your account again in a few days. If that fails, it will send a payment reminder. 

EarnIn doesn’t charge late fees or collect debts, but your borrowing limit may be affected, and EarnIn might put your account on hold until you repay the amount in full.

How we rated the EarnIn cash advance

We designed LendEDU’s editorial rating system to help readers find companies that offer the best cash advances. Our system awards higher ratings to companies with affordable solutions, positive customer reviews, and online transparency of benefits and terms.

We compared EarnIn to several cash advance lenders, using hundreds of data points from company websites, public disclosures, customer reviews, and direct communication with company representatives. We weighted, scored, and combined each factor to produce a final editorial rating. This rating is expressed on a scale from 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest possible score. Our take is represented in our rating and best-for designation, recapped below.

Product	Best for	Our rating
EarnIn cash advance	Best overall cash advance	5/5