Albert: Budgeting and Banking Reviews

by Duty456

If I can put a negative star on here , I would. Reason being they charged my card $16 without even letting me know not even via email. When I first signed up with Albert it didn’t say they were going to charge you to use them. To the paid services that they ask you about in the beginning I declined no. Only reason I got that app was to help me out with my budgeting. But didn’t know they would charge you for using it. And the one time I did use it cause I never kept up with it after I downloaded it they charge me $16. Then you go to their help support and it’s only via text. Not even a phone number to call them and deal with it faster there. I recommend not to use them AT ALL even if you are desperate. It’s funny how when they charged me that money on my card I text the help support that there was a mistake, they don’t reply, but when you text the help support that you want to cancel your account OHHHH they don’t have no trouble there with contacting you back within seconds. And then when you connect your account to your bank they ask for you WHOLE social security number , not the last 4 digits is your SS but your whole social security # , which is fishy to me (because other apps don’t ask you for your whole SS only your last 4 or maybe not even). So just be careful and DONT USE THEM.

by MrHoward2020

Be careful. Don’t sign up for Genius unless you’re ready to be active and use the program daily. I spent an entire year paying for genius when I never used it once because it was taking the same amount as the automatic savings and all this time I thought it was saving money for me so I let it continue. Come to find out it never saved anything after the initial $5 savings deposit and I’m convinced it made the initial savings deposit $5 so that when genius started up you’d think it was still saving you money when it wasn’t. Wish I never installed Albert and I’ll be sure to warn everyone I know against it. There’s plenty of options that don’t use deceptive practices. EDIT FOR DEVELOPER COMMENT: it sounds like your app hides the fact that you’re paying for an unused service by alternating days funds are taken based on “availability” (the process described by the automatic savings plan and NOT mentioned by the genius paid membership) and not prominently displaying paid membership status so that people continue to believe they’re saving money and and not cancel their useless and unused paid membership. The fact that I had to DIG DEEPLY to find out that I was on a paid membership and that I wasn’t actually saving money as I had thought for an entire year proves my point. I had to view 6 pages of information to find out that Genius was charging me because it doesn’t even say that on my account information page in Albert . 🤷‍♂️

by Artgal702

I didn’t understand that signing up for this app Genius would take a large amount out of the account, and that it’s monthly. It was not stated how much would be taken, and when I got birthday money, it took about an eighth of it without warning. This is money I needed to pay rent, car payments and other more important things. I understand that it’s meant to be a savings app, but it’s really hard to use when you can’t afford to do that. I couldn’t find a way to “unsubscribe” from this app Genius without deleting my account, but I’m not able to put away savings on my current budget. I wanted help with my bad spending habits. Not for more things to spend my savings on.

Also, it could only fully connect to one of my bank accounts, the one that my family set up for me for emergency money, and a backup if my job isn’t enough. So the one that rent comes out of, the one that my spending comes out of more, it can’t really help me with that one anyway. So. It’s simply not helpful to me at this time, and I definitely feel like it could use some improvement, especially when it comes to having to set a savings amount, and then find a way to “pause” it. It should be optional only, and I was terrified it would take out of my account on its own, when this wasn’t why I was looking for a financing app.

by Raf44444444

This is a terrible and frustrating app. After reading some of the good reviews, I’m left wondering how they even got that far into Albert . I was excited to use Albert and the services, but in order to even use Albert , you have to add your financial institution, which makes sense. I tried adding mine, and at the login page, it kept saying my credentials were invalid. At first, it worked to where I could answer my security questions, but with no success. I tried to log in several times, but without success. So I decided to use their webpage for help, and followed instructions but again, no success. I tried to contact support, but eve that is difficult. Even though I have cookies enabled, the webpage keeps saying that it is not, and I have no content blockers. After several tries, I was finally able to submit my login info to get to customer support. But then my login password was wrong. So I change it. But it still came up wrong, and keep doing the same thing. I am not getting anywhere with Albert. It’s so frustrating and time consuming to try and get stuff sorted out. Please, if you downloaded Albert and can’t get past the adding your financial institution, then don’t bother anymore. Avoid the frustration. Avoid Albert.

by Albert, The Lying Thief...

This is by far the most unethical company I have ever come across... and I have worked in business a very long time. I installed Albert because I like the concept of what they are trying to accomplish, apparently execution is a huge issue for them. I installed Albert and input my bank information. Albert couldn’t get my budget right... but that wasn’t the biggest issue. I signed up for the savings option assuming they would move money from my checking into my savings. I realize I should have done a bit more research before signing up for this option.. that part was my mistake. As soon as I realized that they were going to pull my money from my actual bank account and put it into some mystery account I removed my bank information and contacted them. They wrote me back and agreed to cancel the transaction and that they would close the account. They explained that the money would never leave my bank account and would not show up on my statement because it had not processed. Well, today (three days later) I wake up and this app took money from my bank account. My this app account is closed so I can not transfer my money back to my real bank. I can not get anyone to contact me regarding this issue. They stole money from me and are refusing to fix the issue!!!

This has been an absolutely horrible experience!!!

by 0123456679

This is the worst mistake I’ve ever made. First of all, you provide intimate financial information about yourself. Makes sense, it’s a financial app, after all. Moving on to the issue with that. They text you about your stuff and your goals once you set up genius (lowest you can pay is $3/month to get the service). Albert GOT MY NAME WRONG which is HUGE to me since they have such confidential and volatile information about me. Y’all can’t even get my name correct but you’ve got bank info, credit cards, and loan info? No thanks. I wish that’s where it ended, but...since downloading Albert I have gotten spam emails about loans, consolidating loans, and so on. I NEVER got these before and within 2 days of downloading Albert I have received an email of this nature from various companies multiple times per day. I have also received unsolicited texts from numbers for services about loans and financial planning, which I didn’t consent to. I’ve gotten a strange “telemarketer” type phone call about housing financials too, just two days after signing up with Albert. It makes me wonder what Albert is doing with such private information they gain access to. Who else have they given it to?! If I’d have known beforehand I’d be getting spammed, I never would have undertaken Albert. It’s way too coincidental in nature that all of this started within hours of me downloading Albert. Beware of this!!!!

by T97S

I was introduced to Albert by a friend and loved the concept of it! My initial issue was that I gave them ALL of my banking information (which obviously I do not take lightly), but then Albert failed to do it job in tracking my previous expenses, such as bills, and delegating a good amount for me to save. I had just paid most of my bills within a week and a half of beginning to use Albert , but Albert failed to notice my bill paying expenses (like upcoming rent). Soooo, the this app app took a LARGE sum of (extra) money out of my account into one of my savings goals and left me with virtually nothing for living or upcoming bills because it failed to recognize any of my past bills. Also, Albert does not offer a way to input bill expenses manually which may have solved this problem from the very beginning.

I was very upset with this, so naturally I wanted my money back in my checking account, and I cancelled my this app account. Welp, I’ve been waiting over a week to get my money fully “processed” into Albert so that I can then “process” the withdrawal. (Both processes Albert says would only take 2-3 business days).

Any who, maybe I just have bad luck, but if you value your money don’t give Albert access to your account. I’m still waiting to get my money back nearly 2 weeks after canceling. Anytime I try to contact some kind of support I get the same unhelpful response verbatim.

by Machu(´･_･`)

I’ve been a customer for the past 4 years. I really loved how simple and straightforward Albert was. Over the years, there have been new features added but the core features remained. Recently, budgeting was taken away. The main reason I downloaded Albert initially was to help with budgeting. I loved how simple the system was. Income - (bills + spending) = remaining money for the month. It was a quick and easy way to track my spending and make sure I was staying within my budget each month. Now that this feature is gone, I’m planning on canceling my subscription and transferring all of my investments and savings into another account. Long gone are the days of an easy to use, simple budgeting app. I’m sad to leave, but I can’t justify paying for any services that this app provides anymore without this feature. As an aside, Albert overall is fine. It does crash from time to time when trying to update the notification cards on the home page. Sometimes it crashes randomly. The team should probably try and fix those. Genius has gotten a lot slower since the early days and Albert has become more cluttered with information I don’t care about. The genius tab on the tab bar is my least favorite feature that the team added.

by Darmathis

this app is a great budgeting app for beginners and or, people who want a reliable “set it and forget it app”. However one of my biggest problems with Albert is the cyber security wall that is between you and your connected accounts. I’m satisfied overall about the Genius tool, Savings Goal, time line/auto deposit options. But when I need to replace a card linked to the account, which was only one of two accounts. Because I changed my login information on the bank institution’s website. The linked account on this app was incorrect, and when I tried updating my login information on this app I could not get passed the account verification stage. Which caused me to pause most of my savings for about 2-3 weeks. After founding out through their help section, that I had to delete my investment and savings account. Thankfully the money get deposited back into your linked banking institution, but the fact is if cyber security is that important to the overall app. Then their needs to be a dedicated human employee for questions comments and concerns, just to get help quickly on real scenarios that the helpline isn’t really equipped to answer with the article. Other than that I like the short easy to read news articles in very user friendly way updated daily. And the break down of your investment portfolio, with changing from percentages to dollars amounts.

by Peach467

I love Albert. They will let you advance anywhere from $25-$100, according to how much your direct deposit is weekly. Customer service (through text messaging, there isn’t a phone number to call, but text works just fine) is very nice and the response time is never more than a couple of hours. If your due date is wrong, they can change it swiftly and smoothly. Always polite and courteous. What really makes me love them is that, if for any reason your account may not have enough in it to cover the full amount you have to pay back (this has happened to me once or twice, if insurance or something else came out on the same day), they will take their money back in increments. They will not intentionally overdraft you, which is super helpful and very considerate. If you need your money immediately, they charge a 4.99 fee(paid when you pay your advance back), vs if you can wait a day or two then there’s no charge to borrow. The only thing I would change is maybe have a one-time monthly fee that would allow you to advance however much you need as many times without a fee each time (i.e. $4.99 per month instead of $4.99 per advance), but that’s just being nit picky... everyone has to make money. Thanks guys & gals, for being a great service!

by Cthusky56

I’m navigating my way through right now & am finding it fascinating. I’m retired, I’ve had a terribly harsh run with life’s realities, with some terrible losses of friends & family, including my Dad & my dog. My two best friends are gone, I survived a heart attack from which I flatlined 3 times and was given a 1 in 1000 chance of survival and without being able to stop the aging process, I’m at a stage in life where I would like to ride off into the sunset comfortably. I care for elderly family, underprivileged and I rescue any animals I can. I worry about money, though it’s not the most important thing in my life. I love my God, my family and my friends. I tip everyone more than mostly everyone and that includes from Dunkin Donuts, to mechanics, to waiters, waitresses and many others. I donate to charities and homeless people and I won’t stop. I am somewhat reckless with my money, in that I probably waste a lot. I should be able to have a wonderful life now that I’m retired, but so far the two years have been tumultuous. If Albert helps me to sleep easier without worrying I’ll run out of my nest egg then I’m all in. Thank you for this. I hope it works. So far the information is vast and as I preliminarily see, it could just be the answer I’m looking for. I’m much better with a rigid plan. This will keep me aware of what I’m doing & where I’m wasting & throwing money away unwisely.

by Rarrobin

I’ve really enjoyed having Albert but was super thankful I gave it a chance when I recently got covid. I had a couple hundred dollars saved in app and while I was out of work it helped me get groceries and pay a couple bills. It saves money without you thinking about it and I can add a specific amount myself at any time which is always great when I get overtime and a little extra money. I truly recommend this because it’s something you don’t even think about. You can access the money without any fees though it does take a day or two to go into your account which is great for curbing my impulse buys. I don’t use the investing because I don’t understand how that stuff works and the money savings are perfectly fine for my purposes but some people have had a great experience with that as you can tell by the other reviews. You can make a savings goal and choose to have a certain one fill up or all of them can get bits of money at the same time. I love having this and you will too!

by Fendjdbd

Let me just start off by saying I was skeptical about Albert at first because of linking my bank account, but given that I live on my own and just moved to a new state, I needed to budget my paychecks properly as I was carelessly spending before. I downloaded Albert with the intention to get my finances under control but didn’t realize all the benefits. So i downloaded it and payed the monthly fee, and it set up a savings account (rainy day fund) then forgot about it and deleted Albert . THREE MONTHS LATER I’m checking my banking app and see that this app had taken $10 out of my account then looked a little more and had seen they had been periodically taking money out. At first I was lied “WHOA HOLD UP WHAT IS THIS??” So I downloaded this app again and checked it and it had SAVED UP ALMOST $300!! I was honestly so happy. As someone who had been living paycheck to paycheck and worried if I was gonna be able to pay rent every month because of my careless spending, Albert has SAVED ME so much financial anxiety. I even created another savings account in Albert for a car AND IT PREDICTS WHEN ILL ACHIEVE THAT GOAL! You can set up “smart savings” for any of the savings account which will take out what you can afford to save, which is a lifesaver! Safe to say I’ll be using Albert probably FOREVER!

by TravelingMomof2

I’m new to investing outside a retirement account. I wanted an app that was easy and trustworthy. I wanted to be able to share my goals and comfort with risk and have a firm make choices on my behalf at times, and also be able to play the stock game myself on other occasions. Albert does all that and more. You see clearly how your stock is doing in the short and long-term and get tips and suggestions along the way. Connecting to your bank account is painless and automatic weekly drafts to my savings and investment accounts have worked smoothly. I like that you can set up reoccurring deposits or add money as you go. I do wish there wasn’t a delay between adding money to your account to be able to transfer it to your investment accounts. That’s annoying because sometimes you forget to return in a timely fashion. I also wish you could ‘shut off’ features like the cash advance and insurance ones. It’s irritating to have your display show that your account is not fully set-up because of this.

by Vety Unhappy With This Company

this app is no good ......they are hacker they steal all of money from your account and I never finished the Process it said something went wrong while I was putting in the information for the application I never finished it but now my money is not in my account like it should be They took my money from my account They tried to take out money out my sisters account and they never gave her a loan Now we got them under investigation as we speak and they will be caught so I Advise anyone that has dealt with this app you better put them under investigation because they gonna pay for what they did is not over so I hope they read this review and know that they going to pay and somebody is going to do some jail timeThis is not a good company and anybody that’s using them I’m gonna pray for you because they’re going down and real soon enjoy what you do this app loan company it’s over Please turn these people in to the Police ....be safe people Your Going To Pat this app Loan Company we are on to you‼️ 5 Stars for the Worst company ever......

by HungryBadgerIsMe

Havent used this app since December and paid back what i owed them. two days ago they randomly too $200 out of my SAVINGS! i never gave them access to my savings account at all and they today they took another $100 out again. why would an app that give you loans for only $25 take out $300 dollars from your savings??? that is ridiculous. i had to close my saving and checking account and reopen them because they kept finding ways around the disputed charges. i even tried to call and they said i had to email them. tried to email them and i still haven’t got a response. i cant even log into the account i had made with them anymore which is soooo suspicious! i will never touch Albert again and my family has stopped as well. i STRONGLY suggest you not use it at all because this is very messed up.

even if they contact me theres nothing they can do to make it right at all! they money in my savings is for my medical bills from having lung damage and now i have to wait on my doctors visit until my bank credits me for the money that was STOLEN from me! disgusting and disappointing !!

by D•Babyy422

this app App is, by far, The best financial app I’ve ever found!! Once you link your bank account, this app analyzes your spending and financial income to determine how much money you’re eligible for for an instant withdrawal! Plus the this app app gives you not only a savings account, that you can have more than one category under, you also link your vehicle, home, and health insurance information and rates, That way you can check for quotes automatically using Albert to see if you can find cheaper policies! You can even add or link your stocks, investments, and Retirement balances! So this app app is truly the best financial app there is out there, that literally has all your accounts into one place to monitor, add, and edit when needed! And on top of all that, you’re even able to text genius, a real life agent, for help or any questions you may have. Highly recommend to everyone! Very easy to understand and navigate! So if you’re wanting the Great, easy accessibility to ALL of your important finance accounts, all in one, Easy-to-use, LIFE CHANGING App, then I highly recommend downloading the this app app immediately!

by Kayshia69

Albert has been so helpful in saving money for different projects like fixing my car or filing for bankruptcy or products that I want to buy. The cool part about Albert is that it tells you your budget, let's you know if you go over your budget.

Albert actually helps you save because it takes just a little money out of your bank and into the goals you set. My husband and I struggle with money management because neither of us was taught how to manage money or save it for that matter, so Albert helps us save money with little to no effort on my side at all. The best part is you almost don't miss the money that this app takes out. I love that it looks at how much money I have and it saves only what I can afford based off of what our account balance is. I highly recommend Albert to anyone who struggles with living paycheck to paycheck and feeling like you just can't save money. Albert has helped my husband and my save almost enough money to buy a lower-cost car. It's hard to be employed full time and both of us being full-time students at University with only one car. Thanks to Albert, we should have enough saves up to get a second car in about 6 months.

by Jessljgdadfhj

I was always too lazy to go to the bank or an ATM to withdraw cash to save for various things (vacations, emergencies, Christmas), and I didn’t want to create an actual savings account that would lump it all together, so I constantly had NO money saved because I didn’t have the discipline to not spend all that I had in checking. this app is AMAZING! It lets me create as many folders as I want, for whatever I want. They have “smart savings,” where they automatically will save a certain amount of money for you each week and spread it across your folders, based on the priority you’ve given them. Then, you can also add funds as you’d like. Best of all, you can withdraw money whenever you need, without any fees. It does take a couple of days to post to your bank account, but that is the ONE, single thing about Albert that I don’t love, and I can completely understand why it can’t be immediate. Love love love Albert. I talk about “my this app” to friends and family at least a couple times each week, and they know exactly what I’m talking about. And you can choose how much to pay for the monthly subscription, so if you’re super tight on money like I was when I first got Albert , you can give just $5/month and have all of these great benefits.

by Hails_mickails

This has been Albert that’s helped me to actually save, to actually budget, to actually move me forward in the financial direction I want to go. It helps me because I can track everything and see what I’m spending and where I can save. That was my problem before—I had no idea how much money I was actually spending and I couldn’t get a grasp on really saving money without touching it. this app has helped me save because I can literally put away money in a savings account inside Albert . I don’t touch it once it’s in there. That’s my favorite thing about Albert and the reason why I bought it: I can save inside Albert . That makes all the difference to me. It keeps me from using that money. It even gives lots of options to automatically save from your bank account so it’s doing the work for you! I also really love that I can text this app at any time (during their hours) about ANY financial questions I have, and they will give me resources. That’s pretty special! I haven’t seen that anywhere else. Long story short: it’s very helpful, it does the work of saving money for you, and it’s genius! :)

by Olivialee98

I heard about Albert and thought it would be perfect for my savings needs since I am a broke college student. While creating the account it does request for you bank info which I didn’t think anything sketchy of since apps dealing with your money like Venmo do too. BEWARE. While creating the account I got to the slide that makes you pick an amount to pay for Albert which I thought was stupid but then I noticed it offers a one month free trial so I went ahead and picked the lowest option available ($4) and planned on deleting the account prior to the one month free trial ending. I literally set Albert up on Tuesday, July 17 and have been trying to delete my account since. It won’t let me because there is a random $10 “gift from this app” that has been pending since Tuesday. It’s been over 2-3 business days and I’ve reached out to the support number and email but since it’s the weekend now I have to wait until Monday. I checked my bank account today and noticed that I was charged $44 for the this app genius membership. It’s only been like 5 days and I was supposed to have a 1 month free trail?? Why is this money being charged?? And to top it off I still have no way to delete my account or request a refund since it is a Saturday. I am livid.

by Unluckymillennial

I have never written a review in my life. But I wanted to start here so people would understand what they are getting themselves into. Albert is easy to navigate. It looks nice and it helps with analyzing what you do with your money and how to better spend your money. But I have an ongoing issue with my account. I thought the “savings goal” was a goal that I wanted to set and try to reach. But instead, it will take out that much out of your account every month. I misread and that was my fault. But the money they took out of my account caused me to collect an over draft fee and become over $190 negative. This is an emergent issue because I now have no money for my essential needs. I started talking to these people as soon as they opened. It is now an hour and a half before they close and I have not had any help. I’ve emailed and texted them multiple times and I have had no reply. The website says for emergent issues to text them for faster responses. I am not going on hour 4 of my last response and I am texting them begging them to answer me for help. I am just disappointed in myself that I am once again putting myself in a situation where I am trusting a place with my financial information and it turns out to hurt me even more

by ArielTTTT

I like the notifications about how much I spent on certain things because I don’t normally pay attention to what I bought or spent on and ended up with huge credit card bills. Text notifications definitely make me more aware of my financial situation. I used to use Penny but it’s gone for good so I am looking for alternatives. I found this app on Instagram ads(got cyber stalked by Facebook...) and I downloaded today. It asks me to pay for this app Genius $6 without me even start using Albert . I get it that financial advices aren’t free but maybe I need to know what I am paying for?? Investments or advices?? What goal and how good is the gain?? I ignored this my choosing $0. And then I moved on connecting to my banks. It’s a little annoying because I do have several financial institutions (7+) that I need to connect to start with. It’s getting even more annoying and frustrating while I tried couple of times connecting Chase and Discover and still failed, which I already tried logging in on my laptop and succeeded. Anyway, lots of things need to improve for Albert. Hope it got fixed soon and I will use it for a while and try it out and probably come back update my review.

by Ioniclegend

I absolutely love Albert and it has opened my eyes to sooo many transactions I make that I could cut down on, and it has helped me save a lot of money without me even doing anything manually! I have yet to try the new investing feature but will try it soon.

I have a suggestion - can we have a comments section within each transaction to state what all was gotten or to clarify what the transaction was. For instance, if I go to Sams to pick up formula and diapers and it’s within the scope of my Groceries budget and it would still be categorized as groceries but I would like to be able to make a comment on the transaction saying, “to pick up formula and groceries.” I still want it to says Sams as the title but would like to have a comment section to clarify. Also, is it possible to make our own categories? I know there are a ton of options to choose from when categorizing a transaction but is it possible to make my own when none of those quite fit the bill? -no pun intended.

Thanks!

by Unique_Martha

I love Albert, helps to save money and this app genius keeps track of your spendings. Confusing at first, Once you are familiar with what means what and how to work along with this app Genius. Just be curious and look around and be familiar of Albert . They Work great with keeping up just answering your question the team goes beyond with great skills. Ask any personal questions and Be patient. Wait for your questions to be answered, and they will get right with you as soon as possible. they are more then likely Busy with other people. So be Patient. this app genius is FDIC Safe insured savings account. When you sign up with genius you choose to pay what you think is fair, with a minimum fee of $4 per month or $6 per month. You choose what is fair. You can also go to There this app Website, to see how this app genius Works. Feel free to have the confidence to save with this app. As much as they have Savings, they also have Investing options. Need help with buying a Home or Renting ask Away and they will Organize and help you with that. Paying to much for your bills? Ask away. For those who think it is a bad app i strongly Disagree. Sorry for miss understanding Just weren’t Curious enough. Look up information. Give it a try! 👌🏽 make a great choice, you wont regret it.

Thank you this app Genius.

by 5amspon

I downloaded this app with not really knowing what I was getting into. Once I linked everything from my brokerage account to my credit card account. I saw the benefits of knowing my net worth. From seeing I spent $100 on Dunkin’ Donuts last month or seeing I spent $75 on Walmart last week. It helps you budget and makes it easier. It breaks it down from bills , income, credit card balances, house mortgage, car payment, insurance the list goes on and on. It’ll break it down to give you a budget on what you can spend each month and also having a side savings account. plus if you sign up for premium it’ll have answers just a text away. You can choose what to pay from $4 a month being the lowest or going higher. The only problem I have is when you sign up for the premium app you pay the monthly rate all at once. It doesn’t come out monthly.. but all in all , I’m super happy with seeing my spending and finally having control over money in “one” app!! Five stars.. love it