Empower Cash Advance App Review - Pros & Cons
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Need cash quickly? You might consider signing up for the Empower Cash Advance app. This app allows you to take out a cash advance for up to $300. And if your credit is bad? That's not a problem, as Empower does not require credit checks.
But that's not Empower's only feature. In addition to its cash advance feature, the Empower app also offers budgeting tools and monitors your credit scores and credit reports for signs of unusual activity.
And unlike most providers of cash advances, Empower does not charge late fees if you're late on repaying what you borrow and it doesn’t charge interest on what you borrow. This means you won't have to worry about the high interest rates that often come with cash advances. It also makes a cash advance through Empower less expensive than if you were making a cash advance with your credit card or other cash advance apps.
However, Empower isn’t free. When you sign up, you’ll receive a 14-day trial during which you won’t have to pay any subscription fee. When that trial ends, you’ll be charged $8 every month to remain an Empower member. You’ll also have to pay extra if you want instant delivery of your cash advance, meaning that it will arrive in your bank account within an hour. It’s important to be aware of these fees before signing up for Empower.
Is the Empower Cash Advance app right for you? Read our review below.
In this article
What is Empower?
Empower is an app that you can download from Google Play or the App Store. With the app, you can apply for a cash advance of $10 to $300. If you pay an instant delivery fee, you'll usually receive your cash as a direct deposit in your bank account in as little as 15 minutes, according to Empower’s website. If you don't pay the delivery fee, your funds will usually arrive on the next business day.
In addition to its cash advance feature, Empower offers a line of credit under the brand name Empower Thrive. With this feature, you can qualify for a line of credit of $200 to $400 that you can access to pay for anything. And by repaying what you borrow, you could improve the strength of your credit history. That’s because your payments are reported to the three national credit bureaus of Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Each on-time payment will help your credit improve.
You can repay your Empower Thrive Line of Credit on a flexible schedule, including scheduling your repayment on the date of your next paycheck. You can also split your payments so that you pay off your line of credit in smaller amounts. Unlike with its cash advance, Empower charges interest on its lines of credit depending on how you pay it off. If you pay off your entire line of credit with your next paycheck, you won’t be charged any interest. If you don’t pay off what you’ve borrowed by your next paycheck, you will have to pay interest. The interest rate on a Thrive line of credit can be as high as 35.99% depending on your credit history.
You can also apply for the Empower card, a debit card in which you can deposit your paychecks and Empower cash advances. The app also offers a checking account that you can use as your primary checking account or as a supplemental account and the AutoSave feature in which Empower will automatically transfer money from your checking account to a savings account. These automatic savings are a great way to build an emergency fund or other savings.
- Access up to $750 per pay period
- No interest, mandatory fees, or credit checks
- Over 15 million downloads and counting
How does the Empower cash advance app work?
You can download the Empower cash advance app from the App Store or Google Play. Once you do, you can sign up for an account.
Once you sign up, you’ll begin a 14-day free trial. After that trial ends, you will be charged a monthly subscription fee of $8. This subscription fee will remain in place until you cancel your account. Empower will automatically withdraw the funds from your linked checking account, whether that is an external bank account or an Empower checking account.
Once you are signed up for the Empower app, you can access its different features, including its cash advance service:
You can apply for a cash advance of up to $300. You can consider an advance as an alternative to taking out a small personal loan or a cash advance with your credit card. Unlike these other options, you won’t be charged interest for an Empower cash advance. Empower will tell you your repayment due date when it makes you a cash advance offer. Often, you can schedule your repayment so that it falls on your next payday. You can then repay the advance with an automatic payment from your next paycheck.
Empower does not require credit checks for cash advances, but it will look at your finances and how often you are paid. These eligibility requirements will determine whether you qualify for a cash advance and how much money Empower will advance you.
You can also access Empower Thrive, the app’s line of credit:
Unlike the Empower cash advance, Empower Thrive can come with different fee amounts. Depending on when you pay off what you borrow, you’ll be charged 0% interest or up to 35.99%.
An Empower Thrive line of credit is a good way to boost your three-digit credit score. Empower reports your payments to the credit bureaus. If you develop a history of on-time payments, your credit score will gradually rise. This differs from Empower’s cash advances: Paying back a cash advance does not help your credit score as your payments are not reported to the credit bureaus.
You can also access Empower’s AutoSave function on the app:
With this function you can build your savings by scheduling automatic transfers from your checking account to your savings account. Empower finance tools will help you determine how much money you can comfortably afford to automatically transfer to savings.
How much does the Empower cash advance app cost?
Once you sign up for Empower, you’ll receive a 14-day free trial. This gives you the chance to try out the app to see if it is right for you. If you cancel before your free trial ends, you won’t be charged anything. If you continue after the free trial, though, you’ll pay $8 a month to retain access to the Empower app.
Empower doesn’t charge any fees for a cash advance if you don’t want instant deposit. But if you want your cash advance dollars directly deposited into your checking account instantly, you’ll need to pay an instant delivery fee. This fee varies depending on the size of your cash advance.
For a cash advance up to $10, you’ll be charged an instant delivery fee of $1. For a cash advance of $75 to $99.99, you’ll be charged a fee of $4. For an advance of $200 to $249.99, Empower charges an instant delivery fee of $7. That fee hits $8 for advances of $250 to $299.99.
Empower app features
Empower’s app comes with a host of features:
Empower cash advance. Empower is most known for its cash advance feature. Many Americans, facing rising costs from persistent inflation, need short-term infusions of cash throughout the year. The cash advance feature from Empower can provide this. You can qualify for a cash advance of up to $300. And if you’re willing to pay a fee, Empower can deposit your money in your bank account usually within 15 minutes.
Empower Thrive. Empower also offers a line of credit, known as Empower Thrive. You can qualify for a line of credit of $200 to $400. But that’s just a start. If you manage your line of credit properly and pay back what you borrow on time, Empower says that your line of credit could grow to as much as $1,000. If you schedule to repay your line of credit by your next paycheck, your APR will be 0%. Depending on your repayment plan, though, your APR for a line of credit could be as high as 35.99%.
AutoSave. With the AutoSave function, Empower will automatically make a deposit from a connected checking account – either one with Empower or an external bank account – into a savings account. Not sure how much you should automatically save each month? Empower will help you decide on an amount that you can comfortably afford.
The Empower debit card. You can also apply for a debit card from Empower. You can elect to deposit your paycheck directly into this debit card. You can also send any Empower cash advances directly to the card.
- Access up to $750 per pay period
- No interest, mandatory fees, or credit checks
- Over 15 million downloads and counting
Who should try the Empower cash advance app?
Those who frequently need cash. Do you often need a quick influx of cash? The Empower app might be a good choice for you. If you need emergency cash, you can apply for an advance from Empower of up to $300. And if you can wait to receive your cash for one or two business days? You won’t have to pay any fees for your money. Empower never charges late fees or interest on its cash advances.
Those who need to build credit. If your credit score is low or you haven’t built a credit history, you can apply for a credit-building line of credit through the Empower Thrive feature. Empower will report the payments you make on this line of credit to the three national credit bureaus. This will help build your credit score and credit history over time.
Those who need help saving money. You can ask Empower to automatically transfer a specific amount of money from your checking account to a savings account every month. This can help build your savings without you having to think about transferring money each month.
Who should not use the Empower app?
Those who’ve already built an emergency fund. If you’ve built an emergency fund that can cover six months to a year of your daily expenses, you won’t need to take out emergency cash advances. This means that you probably don’t need the Empower app.
Those with strong credit scores. Empower’s line of credit can help you build a stronger three-digit credit score. But if your score is already in the 740 or higher range? You don’t need to worry about building your score, meaning that you won’t need Empower’s line of credit.
Those who already save. If you already save a set amount of dollars each month, you won’t need Empower’s AutoSave feature. This means that you might not need the app at all.
Empower vs. the competitors
How does Empower compare to other personal finance apps? Here’s a quick rundown:
App | Main feature | Extra features | Fees |
Empower | Cash advance | AutoSave, line of credit, debit card | $8 monthly fee; you’ll be a charged a fee of $1 or more for instant delivery of a cash advance. |
Dave | Cash advance | Checking account, savings account, surveys and side gig job board | $1 monthly fee; 3% of the amount you are borrowing for express delivery to Dave checking account; 5% of amount you are borrowing for cash advance delivered to an external debit card. |
EarnIn | Payday advance | Overdraft protection, cash advance, credit monitoring | 99 cents to $4.99 for Lighting Speed paycheck advance. No fees for standard paycheck advance services. |
Chime | Online checking and savings accounts | Peer-to-peer payments, online bill pay | $2.50 for each cash withdrawal from out-of-network ATMs; fees for depositing cash into your Chime account at most locations. |
Dave
Like Empower, is an app that lets you take cash advances. In this case, you can apply for an advance up to $500, depending on your income, credit and other financial factors.
There is a $1 a month subscription fee to access Dave’s features. A cash advance charges no interest. Dave also doesn’t charge late or overdraft fees. If you want your money deposited instantly, though, to a Dave checking account, you’ll pay 3% of the amount you borrow as an instant-delivery fee. If you want your cash advance deposited to an external debit card, you’ll pay 5% of what you borrow for instant delivery.
Dave also offers Side Hustle, a job board that lets members search for quick, money-paying jobs, and Surveys, a chance for members to get paid for taking surveys. You can also open a Dave checking or savings account.
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EarnIn
EarnIn is a paycheck advance app that lets you access the money you’ve already earned from work before your paycheck hits your bank account. It’s a useful tool if your loan or credit card due dates don’t sync up with your monthly or bi-weekly paychecks.
With EarnIn, you can receive paycheck advances of up to $100 a day or up to $750 total for each of your pay periods, depending on the amount that you earn. EarnIn charges no fees for your paycheck advance and doesn’t charge interest. But if you want to participate in its Lightning Speed program, in which your paycheck advance is deposited instantly in your bank account, you’ll pay from 99 cents to $4.99 a transaction, depending on how much EarnIn deposits.
EarnIn also offers Balance Shield, which sends you alerts if your checking account balance is getting low. This service will also deposit $100 from your on-demand pay into your checking account to make sure that your checking account isn’t overdrawn. You can also sign up for credit monitoring services with this app.
Chime
differs from these other apps because it does not provide cash advances or paycheck advances. Instead, it’s a complete mobile banking app, allowing you to create an online checking and savings account. You can also use Chime to pay bills online and to make peer-to-peer payments. Say you and your friends go out to lunch. You can pay your portion of the bill to a friend through the Chime app.
Chime charges no fees for most of its services. However, if you withdraw cash from an out-of-network ATM, you’ll be charged $2.50 for every transaction. Chime says that its members can withdraw cash free from more than 50,000 ATMs across the country.
You can deposit cash directly into your Chime account at participating retailers such as 7-11, Walmart and CVS. However, cash deposits are only free at Walgreens and Duane Reade stores. Other participating retailers will charge a fee. This fee varies by retailers.
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- Access up to $750 per pay period
- No interest, mandatory fees, or credit checks
- Over 15 million downloads and counting
FAQs
Is Empower free?
Empower doesn’t charge interest or late fees on its cash advances. However, it does charge an $8 monthly fee to access its services, including cash advances. And you will pay a fee – ranging from $1 to $8 or more – if you want your cash advances deposited into your bank accounts instantly. If you skip this fee, your deposit will typically show up in your account after one business day.
How does Empower help you build your credit?
If you take out a line of credit through the Empower Thrive service, your payments will be recorded by the national credit bureaus. This will help you gradually improve your credit score.
What else does Empower offer?
You can also apply for an Empower debit card, open an Empower checking account, sign up for the company’s AutoSave feature and access credit-monitoring services through the app.
The bottom line
Cash advances are generally an expensive way to access money. It’s always better to build an emergency fund that you can tap to cover unexpected expenses. Of the most common cash advance options, though, Empower is one of the best choices. That’s because Empower doesn’t charge interest or late fees on its cash advances, a difference from payday lenders and credit cards.
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Writer
Dan Rafter is a freelance writer who has more than 20 years experience covering personal finance. He's written for the Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, Bankrate, CreditCards.com, Rocket Mortgage, NortonLifeLock and several others.
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