Instant Financial Reviews

by Former TD Bank User

Update 2: 3rd or 4th interruption to daily use in less that 3 months.... can't use card, add money or check balance and right near Christmas too.... this really has me considering a new job just to get away from this card.
Update: I saw your response, which was way late. Ironically you all fixed the issue within hours of me calling you out on the applications nonsense. Still seems like a temporary intentional ploy to get people to over spend that you fixed after someone called you out on it. Furthermore I shouldn't have to jump through hoops to get my balance IE InstantFinancial should work consistently. Keep it right the first time and stop messing with people's money. Still do not recommend InstantFinancial or company. Leaving my old review as is. If your job requires this: pick a new job
Old review:
InstantFinancial used to update your balance every time you opened it. Now it will only tell you the balance as of the last time you received pay. If you withdrawal it remains the old balance setting you up to overdraw your account and pay fees. Seems pretty deliberate and like they set you up to fail. Actually considering changing jobs not to be stuck with this misleading system. Just seems very intentional that they want you to overdraw.

by VQZ81

So I have missed out on some needed payouts because after I made my account, I’m not able to activate my debit card on my app, or on a regular browser. The Option is not there, I have to repeat the same info over and over each time (I’ve used the chat function twice with 2 different agents one was rude, and the other seemed somewhat more knowledgeable, but still couldn’t resolve my issue. Spoke with 2 different support staff, who didn’t know what the heck to do. ) Most financial institutions can activate over the phone and be done with it. But NOPE! I’m pending an email or call from an agent from a higher level of support . I would think they would have had me on a priority call back list since I’ve been having trouble for sometime. I was told they would be in the office around 4 hours ago , and not a peep. Unless there is that many issues . I feel like just saying forget it and go back to something more reliable. like a regular bank.

by CocktailsAreMyArt

My employer recently announced that they were offering (actually they didn't offer us the service, they just made it the only way to access our earnings). It was presented as a decision made by corporate solely to benefit it's employees. Instant access to our tips with any fees or headaches. None of us were excited about the introduction of the service this week. However, based on the literature we were provided, it seemed like it might not be a terrible idea. We were very wrong. First of all, InstantFinancial it's self is slow, buggy & generally not well crafted. Most importantly, the promised lack of fees and quick/easy access to our $, turned out to be a joke. Transferring $ to an actual bank account can take over a week. Using the provided Visa Instant Financial card in an ATM to withdraw funds, results in a fee from both Instant Financial & my bank($2.50 from Instant & $3.00 from BOA). Yes, I'm sure their are some fee-free ATM's as they state, how can Bank of America's ATM's & most other machines owned by major financial institutions not be in their network? The only people benefiting from the services provided by Instant Financial, are Instant & the companies who force their employees to use those services.

by Jennadelaney

InstantFinancial is absolutely ridiculous. I have tried multiple times to transfer funds and somehow InstantFinancial has “lost it.” I spoke to them three different times, all where they told me they would escalate the problem further. They cannot provide a trace number, and told me to talk to my bank. So I talked to my bank, and they have no information on any bank transfer that occurred. When I called instant back, they said that I hadn’t spoken to anyone there and that my problem had no prior escalation from ANY of my calls before hand. I am out $200 because of InstantFinancial. My hard earned money is GONE. The decision my company made to start using InstantFinancial was a HUGE mistake and our corporation will be completely cancelling InstantFinancial. Thanks instant for losing $200.

by Hey Hey Hello

At first I thought InstantFinancial and concept was great. But now I have had two fraud cases. The first was almost $300 and they gave me my money back but months later they are trying to claim that they made an error and are taking half the money back. I called and the guy didn’t even know what was happening and couldn’t help me and said they shouldn’t take the money out of my account as it was obviously fraud transactions as they were all from different states and immediately drained my account . Well Instant did take the money back and now my account is negative. They also declined my other dispute because there was not enough evidence. Obviously there’s no evidence because I immediately knew what was happening and changed my card so they couldn’t take my next days tips out. Don’t trust them they’ll just try to take your money.

by LIIIIKINGGGGGGG

This is the second review that I’m writing simply because this JOKE of an institution doesn’t want people to know the truth about this card. The only thing you can do with this card is swipe it. I can’t order things off-line, I can’t order door Dash or Uber eats, nor can I request an Uber or Lyft ride to get to the job that’s paying me through this JOKE OF A CARD. Let me not forget to mention the fact that it doesn’t even link to my Chime bank account so I don’t even get instant transfers. It keeps giving me some error message saying that my card is expired and it’s not!! No wonder employers are pretty much shoving this down our throat’s instead of setting up direct deposit. Yeah it’s definitely a simpler- faster way of getting paid. The only problem is that I’m forced to only be able to spend MY money one-way. As I said before this is a joke of an institution and I should’ve just set up direct deposit because at least I would have different opportunities to spend MY MONEY the way I should be able to spend MY money.

by Sparklessss(:

To begin with, I already wasn’t happy about my job changing the way they pay to another card I don’t need instead of my checking account. When I tried to look up my job (chain restaurant), the store number wouldn’t search, so I had to scroll through literally hundreds of stores to find mine. After that, it took a ridiculous amount of time to get InstantFinancial and my card set up. InstantFinancial said I could change my pin later when I set it up but that function is not in settings, it also won’t let me set up the instant transfer function to my debit card, and just today it decided to not let me do the 1-2 day transfer to my checking account, so now my money is stuck in the “Instant” account instead of in my bank account from which all my auto-pay bills are drawn. Fire your tech guys, please.

by Dvkudcmitcs ST Jk

Absolutely the work financial app and the most useless customer support I’ve ever seen. My coworkers and I had no choice but to be paid our tips on the instant cards and we have regretted it ever since. First off, InstantFinancial does not show all your transactions and even the company can not see or produce them for you when asked. After a short time they also disappear. Money is randomly held sometimes for days with either no excuse or the never ending times that “maintenance” is being done. The people working their support line know as little about the company and app as the people forced to use it. You have to wait days for your money to be transferred into your bank account. But for a FEE you can transfer it immediately. I have to pay to be able to access my own money immediately since the card is so unreliable. It holds random amounts at gas stations and restaurants depending on how much you spend. Overall probably the most GARBAGE payment system out there. Avoid at all costs.

by Chap100487

I just started a few months ago at a restaurant that decided to use instant. I like the idea of not having a server walking out with a full nights tips but that’s where it ends. I use Chase and was told most major banks don’t charge fees to withdraw; between chase and instant I pay $5 in fees. And they will respond with their 33,000 no fee banks but I live in a city and walk...I can’t go 20 mins out of my way for no fee. Also, the two business days for instant transfer is fine if it’s Monday or Tuesday but on the busiest nights for servers who make most of their money on weekends, don’t expect to see your money for FIVE DAYS!!! Basically if you want all your money you wait and if you don’t mind losing about $100 a month in fees or 30 mins travel out of your way they’re great. Tell their C suites they have to wait 4 days after pay day for their money or use 33,000 out of 2 billion ATMs and see if they fix it then.

Also, why can other services like PayPal have a transfer done in 2-3 hours yet I get charged $2 so instant can snail mail it!? This is also contingent on how fast your employer puts it on your card as that can be a few mins to next day. STOP JUSTIFYING SHORT COMINGS, INSTANT, AND ACTUALLY FIX IT. THIS IS OUR MONEY!

by Llllllllllllll.

My restaurant recently switched to the Instant card a few months ago and already half a dozen employees have had their card information stolen and used fraudulently. Prepare for it to take 90 DAYS to receive your stolen pay back IF it’s approved. DO NOT keep your money on these unprotected cards, the security and fraud response is abysmal. This is essentially how we are paid, we can’t afford to wait three months for instant to address its own security issues before we receive our money!! Why is my card being approved literally on the other side of the country mere hours after I get paid for a shift 3,000 miles away? If your company gives you the option, CHOOSE TO GET PAID VIA CHECK because unless you are near a very specific type of ATM (spoiler alert: you’re not) it will either cost you money to access your own pay or you will need to wait days and days and days. Imagine if you received a paycheck for all your tips and hourly combined for $0 and the payroll company told you it would take 90 days to get it back, and then when you finally did you had to pay to access it within the week. That’s the instant card, so adjust your expectations accordingly.

by Jeemnat

I am a bartender and I get my tips through InstantFinancial which is more convenient than having to make multiple cash deposits. However, I am unable to do instant transfers to my bank at least once a week because of “maintenance”. and not just drying the “scheduled” times at odd hours of the night. It happens almost every Saturday/Sunday when I have either made the largest amount of money or have saved up all week. During these pandemic times when hours, money and even employment in general is lacking not being able to get my money out is especially frustrating. In addition if I want to transfer money to more than one account I have to enter the information from scratch and then it will only save the last account information. So I am constantly having to retype the data. I would love to have a checking and savings or two account option.

by Natstalker

I woke up yesterday morning and saw that there was a transaction from a pizza place. I have not ordered anything from that pizza place in nearly two months so I’m gathering it’s a fraudulent charge.
I block my card and wake up this morning to a charge from a grocery store that I haven’t been to in over a week.

I call the number on the back of the card, on hold for 30 min, and the guy tells me that there is a viewing problem with Instant. Essentially a massive delay in viewing the transactions. He said that their tech unit is working to solve that problem. Cool.

Simultaneously I finally get in touch with the chat help from InstantFinancial -a 30min wait there too. The guy tells me that there is no viewing problem on InstantFinancial and that I need to call back next week so that they can confirm the transactions on my account are finalized.

Okay? So is there or isn’t there a viewing issue? It sounds like a very convenient way for Instant to manipulate the money their dealing with.
InstantFinancial needs to be stronger and more accurate and there needs to be continuity in the support team, because I’m left feeling like something shady is going on.
I don’t like my money being messed with and if there is an issue -technically, on their end, fix it already. It’s a big one!

by Steamboatmillie

I had initially rated this as a 4 but after the mess of trying to withdraw money from an in network...omg. The closest one is over 40 minutes away (mind you I don’t live in the middle of nowhere, in between 2 big towns neither of which have their atms) and when I did eventually venture out to one of their atms I was still charged fees. And not just that. The whole using the atm with this card is bs. At a different place I tried to pull out a 20, it says insufficient funds, which was false, but charges a fee. Check my balance, charged a fee. Withdraw , charged a fee. All in the same atm use. By the end of the ordeal i was charged at least 10 bucks in fees when that atm charges 3 I checked with the owner. Seems super sketchy, I think I will just switch to direct deposit as I have had zero issues with my credit union in the past.

by GSWheels

I wasn’t exactly thrilled that my company decided to change our pay and use a debit card, but I really like the Instant Card. The first month I had InstantFinancial , it ran perfectly. Every time I got paid or used my card, I was notified through InstantFinancial , and a little red circle with a number would appear on InstantFinancial . It has stopped doing this for some reason. It only appears after I open InstantFinancial and close it. I thought maybe I could control it in InstantFinancial ’s settings, which I can, but now it sends me a text, and my alerts are also on in my phone’s settings for the Instant App.. I’d rather the notifications be instant like they were before, but overall, I’m pleased.

by Restaurant Life

One of my jobs switched are tips from cash to the Instant app. While we were all pretty annoyed at first because cash is just so easy but this meant we got our tip outs faster so that part I like. You can transfer money to your bank account for free but it can take a couple days, so plan it out, or use the debit card it’s self if possible. App is straight forward and simple that not much to get confused about. Honestly the only reason I didn’t give it 5 stars is because I use my tip money to pay my
bills and it just adds an extra step because I have to wait and transfer to my bank account(because I’m not paying to get my own money, I don’t with my bank so I’m not going to start now) and than than pay my bill. Since mostly all my bills can’t be paid with card online/ auto pay, you have to link an account number. Other than that is is app is easy and gets me my money the next afternoon vs 2 days later. Some people at my job still hate it, but it’s not that bad.

by Lisalooooo

Even though I wasn’t necessarily happy about my job forcing this new card down my throat, I can’t say I’m not thankful for it. I’ve had this card for almost a month now and haven’t touched it since because I’m saving, and It’s just awesome if you wanna save! I gave the card to my aunt and told her not to let me touch it all summer! To be able to watch my money just stack up is awesome! I usually check it when I’m bored at my other job after a couple nights of working and I’m always surprised at how much i’ve earned! I know if I would have still been getting cash tips I wouldn’t have saved as much as I am now with this card, so this was just a blessing in disguise for me!

However!!!! If you do use the card, then USE THE CARD! Cause they give out random weekly cash prizes and you’re entered into the drawing every time you use your instant card. That’s pretty cool, keep up the good work!

by Genbolanos

My money always reaches me the moment my employers distribute it, which is every night after we close. So no complaints there. I never tried to transfer funds because I see no reason to since I don’t mind having an extra card. I don’t understand the complaints being given. All transfers take a couple days. Also, if you aren’t getting your tips the days you work then talk to your employer and make sure it’s not on their end. Like I mentioned, I always receive mine at the end of the night and there hasn’t been a delay. Overall, InstantFinancial is simple.

by Jaggslayer

I recently got my first job as a busser, and every night after my shift I’m paid my tip share. It’s awesome especially for a young teenager even though I do have my own bank account. An account that I leave money in to stack up is very useful. I hope it doesn’t mysteriously disappear, but I am putting my trust into the devs that they won’t let that happen. I was also reading old reviews, and what they went through sounds nothing like it is now it’s fast and very cooperative app. Altogether, great app, fast, Ui is simple ( could be smoother but oh well).

by Reviewman8

I wasn’t sure how well InstantFinancial would work at first but everything runs smoothly. It’s great, and exactly how the person who gave it to me said it would work. The only problem I’d say I have is the bank transfer part. It took me a couple tries to get InstantFinancial to accept my banking info. At first I thought maybe I’d inserted the information wrong and it was a user error, but I guess it just needed a couple tries to be able to confirm my account info?? Anyways besides that I’ve never had a problem taking money out or using the card. Thanks!!

by Whalesfood

My company requires it for pay from tips, but it’s really good at what it does. Nice app. Card looks nice. Tbh I don’t remember if I set up a PIN when I made it but once a cash register asked for it after a swiped so I paid with my Bank Card. Yeah idk what to do about the PIN thing but besides that it’s great.
And honestly, as for using it as a checking account, it works better than my actual bank. (Yeah Instant doesn’t have interest but a checking account’s interest is already so small idc.) My actual bank app is so bad (I think a lot of banks don’t have great apps) so it’s refreshing to have a working app that shows me money

by Skiziliest

Since my employer started making us have an instant card, this has been the worst card to have. First of all, why do I need another card in my wallet??? Secondly, the card is by far instant. Ya, you get your money on the card when the work day is over, but it’s not my main account. The transfers should be instant. You shouldn’t have to wait 3 BUSINESS DAYS, to transfer money. I don’t want to go driving around to take
My money out of this stupid account to not get a fee. I’ve also noticed at some atm’s that it won’t read your card. Another thing is that there is no name or chip on the card so if it gets stolen anyone can use it mainly at places that you don’t need a pin. This card is a scam and I would never recommend any company to use it.

by Kateystjohn

InstantFinancial literally is so terrible it makes me want to quit my job just to find a different one where I won’t have to use it.
I have thousands of dollars in this bank account, and InstantFinancial only actually opens maybe 5% of the time. It never works. I click InstantFinancial to open, the orange Instant screen pops up, then the screen goes white. And it stays like that. And it never changes.
Thanks so much Instant for making all my money virtually unusable!! :-) I’m going to go on the computer today and transfer every penny out of this stupid middle-man banking app just so I don’t have to worry about it. As a server, I really miss when we’d just get paid out in cash. Please update InstantFinancial or something so this bug goes away.

by I Hate Instant Financial

This “no-fee” card is ridiculous. Good luck finding an ATM that won’t charge you to take your money out. Transfers also take FOREVER ! But hey that’s not Instant financials fault; right? - it’s your bank and the ATMs fault! WRONG! STEP UP YOUR GAME INSTANT FINANCIAL. You can’t blame banks and ATMs for the fact that you have ZERO PARTNERSHIPS with companies and that the people who are forced to use your horrible service CANNOT WITHDRAWAL THEIR OWN MONEY WITHOUT GETTING CHARGED FOR IT. Oh and why don’t you just keep your money on the card so that Instant can make money off of your money? What do you think you are Instant? A bank? NO because if you were a bank then I could TAKE MY MONEY OUT ! This company is a joke and I can’t wait till I can get rid of this terrible, horrible “service”

by MasonDrysdale

The reviews for InstantFinancial are 100% botted. I tried to withdraw $400 and the atm crashed. Instant still took the money out of my account and they REFUSE to give it back. ATM company even told me it’s instants fault and to request provisional credit. Manager on site at instant told me they do not do provisional credit and that it will take up to 100 days to get my money. **** you and your terrible debit card. You can’t decline provisional credit after 10 days that’s against the law. These guys aren’t even a bank, just some third party handling your income. If I don’t get my provisional credit I’m going to start a lawsuit. Oh and bank transfers take at least 3 days. And if you use an ATM it might not give you the money, but it’ll take it out of your account. Good luck.

by Naygen

Not a bad idea but I’m not for it. Not my cup of tea. Employer handed us these cards and were told to use it. I started InstantFinancial and had a family member hold the card so I’d never use it. I don’t like to have my money spread across multiple accounts. Unfortunately on InstantFinancial I accidentally upgraded InstantFinancial which is VERY EASY to tap on instead of exiting out of. My checks now go to my card and takes almost a week to transfer to my original bank account. I emailed them to resolve this and called me, instructing me for an hour on how to turn it off. A week later and here I am with my paycheck back onto my instant. This is ridiculous and I just want to delete the whole app and throw out my card.

by RobNash2010

I’ve had this for about a month now, and it seems okay so far. The only thing I’ve noticed is that when I go to an in-network atm, I am still charged a dollar per transaction. It comes up as an off-network ATM, but it says on the website that it is in fact within the network and it has the logo in it. I know it’s only a dollar but I work hard for every dollar I receive. Transferring to my bank just takes way too long. About a week even though it gives an estimated time of like a day or two. But overall, not too bad. InstantFinancial runs well enough.

by Capturetheonstance

Where I work which is serving our tips go right to the card after work and it’s awesome lol and to get my money back I just go to my local grocery store and when I use the card it ask if I wanna get cash back I always say yes and that’s how you can get your money off the card without a ATM fee just get something small like gum if you don’t need to get groceries that day.