Empower: Cash Advance & Credit Reviews

by Cheis23

Doesn’t link with my credit union so can’t use most of the features advertised. It says it will but whenever I try there is a “problem. Please try again later.” I’ve been trying for 3 weeks. When I contacted support (after some frustrating and counter-intuitive discussions with a Bot) they told me there was a temporary outage with my credit union and to try again in a week. Obviously disappointed and finding Empower totally useless I deleted my account. It says all my data and account details will be deleted. Yet when I attempt to re-sign in and confirm my account has been deleted it simply just re-signs me in and all my data is still there and it hasn’t been deleted at all. I don’t know why so many people are giving this good reviews. Perhaps they haven’t used it properly but I was very keen to use this app that I’d already decided I would. I decided to just do some simple tests to put my mind at ease about using a new company and they failed all of those tests: doesn’t link with external accounts as advertised, time wasting bots are the customer support, solutions eventually offered are totally inadequate and when I made my decision that this “bank” (its really a tech company) wasn’t for me I had to repeatedly email and message them to actually manually delete my account (even though Empower tells you you can do it from their main menu). New companies will improve the banking experience in the near future. this app is not one of those.

by Wait To Download

My wife and I read about this app through a financial article and it sounded like a great option for us. We had closed our Chase account and kept our PNC open until everything was switched over to cover expenses and make sure there was no lapse in bills. So once that was finished we finally got our....1 card? this app does not support two cards for the same account. That was not disclosed or advertised or anything. It was deep within their “Help” section after we had signed up.

So because it does work with Apple Pay we thought, ok the options and cash back are a nice option so let’s get through it. Well, we finally closed our PNC account and just had this app at this point. My pay check was a live check one week because of the switching of accounts, they wanted to be sure I could have the cash. So with this live check I look on how to deposit it or cash it..... THEY DON’T HAVE SUPPORT FOR THIS. The only way you can contact them is a messenger or email and you MIGHT get an answer back in 24-48 hours even though their app says most replies are in 2 hours of the operation times. They have no answers. So I had to go to my local grocery store where they would cash it but for $8. I responded back to their for short email giving me no answers and that was 24hours ago. Other than that, Empower works nicely. Just can’t deposit cash or checks. HUGE flaw when setting up this business.

by Shawnbb13827

The worst app I have ever used!! I do not ever take a min to write a review about apps but this one I must! First off, the criteria for a cash advance is written specifically for people that wouldn’t even need a cash advance in the first place. You have to maintain a $50 balance for so many days for 4 pay periods. So, why would I borrow $50 if I could keep $50 in my account? Also Empower charges monthly fees for what I don’t even know. What they charge you for, other apps have been doing for a while now. The customer service is terrible. They read scripts and will just disconnect the chat whenever you as the customer are right. This place is a scam!! They cold-heartedly trap people into paying $11 or so a month in hopes they might qualify for advances in the future. I receive over 2k a month through the account connected to Empower and told I don’t qualify for not maintaining a $50 balance. When I explained I move money to my savings account every pay period they said there wasn’t anything they could do. Thankfully, there is one thing I can do...cancel, never use again and share my experience. THIS PLACE IS A STRAIGHT SCAM!!!

Update: they apologized and explained there auto save feature costs $8 monthly. I can auto save from any account for nothing and my bank already advances me $200 every payday. Empower is completely worthless!!

by Stefy92

First the new App layout is awful! Its difficult to use and clunky. Second, they’re now charging users every month to have an account. They claim it’s less than regular bank fees, but I’ve never once had a fee from my regular bank. They’re in the process of forcing everyone to update to a new account, which is annoying to start with, but don’t mention the $6 PER MONTH fee until after you go through all the work to make the new account. this app USED to be a great company with a great interest rate, but it literally gets worse daily. Third, and most important, the interest rate is steadily decreasing. While it rate is still ok it’s not the rate that was promised. It has literally dropped from 1.60% to 1.10% is less than a month. Empower is targeted at younger people who are less likely to have significant amounts of money, but they are charging an extreme monthly fee! At this point, Empower is going to end up costing people more than they are able to gain with the lower than promised interest rates and $6/month fee. this app has effectively rendered itself obsolete.

by Dmmch2022

Their app hasn’t had a real structural update in 1.5 years, customer support will disconnect the chat if I try to explain what’s going on and always send “copy and paste” scripts instead of taking the time to explain what’s happening in their own words. I’m not asking for hand outs that are monetary, I just want my questions answered with dignity and respect without customer service/support treating their jobs like it is a hassle to investigate issues. That’s what the job is as a customer service specialist/representative, to investigate, diagnose, and assess the issue of the customer. This is another company that takes its customers or user base/demographic for granted just to improve there bottom line of numbers and metrics to make themselves profitable.
This is the last cash advance app I will use and hope everyone gets a hold of there financial security, like I’m working towards without these apps, to obtain a better future.
Let companies like this fall, don’t let yourself fall from dealing with these companies. 🙏🏾

by Meiweilo

Empower deserves zero stars. The first
Time I tried to get a cash advance it kept
Saying it didn’t see my deposits when they were clearly in my account. Reached out to tech support and it was going well until different tech supports were involved. They asked me to provide screenshots of my deposits which I did as well as who it’s from which was my employer. The whole reason for the screenshot was to prove that the deposits were in my account and recent since the system could not detect it. The last rep was oblivious to the entire support ticket between myself and his team members..asked me the same questions, didn’t sound like he even took the chance to read through the transcripts. Been going back and forward for about a week to get this before the holiday and now someone else tells me that they can’t accept the screenshots and that the money isn’t in my account!!!! Who are you to tell me what I have in my account when all screenshots were provided and where in the policy does it say screenshots can’t be provided when there is a technical issue with Empower !!! It’s madness, it shouldn’t be this hard to get a cash advance when the proof is there but your app isn’t working. I’m uninstalling and moving on, seriously worst app ever.

by 57544dave

Well I got Empower. I was so excited about the payday advance feature. So I was charged the $8 monthly fee the 1 st month. Did not qualify for the second month another $8 charged, on the 3rd month another $8 charged. This time it says you unlocked a $25 dollar advance but would not let me pull it out. I get ssi monthly then it says not requiring enough really I’ve had ssi for 7 years now plus I make deposit about the same every 2 weeks. But then I checked back the next day. There again I was not approved now, but on the other part I was. This is so messed up over $25 dollars. Now I don’t get that. And they will shoot me a generic reply saying “oh we’re sorry to hear your having trouble send me your information and we will help” ya right. You know what I mean. I have thousands of people that will read this. I can’t believe this I given you over $25 for a crappy app. If you are going to do something and don’t and blame it on a glitch. Well that’s pretty sad. Hey guys I will update you on there reply. And I will pay another month. To either add to this experience or give a 3 to 5 star rating if it is done with meaningful sincerity. The $25 dollars is crap even though I should have qualified for at least $50 or 100 because I have more stars hot a higher advance then the $25 I no longer qualify for. I hope you look into this because you have no problems taking my $8 every month

by SF Christopher08

this app is one of the most worthless and quite frankly, utterly useless “financial/banking services” I have ever encountered. Thankfully my unfortunate mistake of signing up with this app; will be other people’s gain. I have no problem describing what a pathetic joke the feeble attempt at customer service this app haphazardly provides to it customers. I can imagine how it would be nothing less than a total embarrassment if I had to admit to people that I worked at or was in any associated with such a deplorable and disheveled wreck of a company that this app truly is. Seriously. I would say that perhaps this app can bilk their investors out of more money so that their totally incompetent robot customer service staff could be trained on what “customer service” actually means. Alas, I believe that would just be an exercise in futility. I simply cannot wait to be the first person in line to attend the party that will be held upon the news of this company’s inevitable, and 100% deserved, abject failure. I can hardly contain my glee because the thoughts of this app being dissolved into total non-existence is a delight of which I will always be ready to enjoy. Always.

TL;DR - this app AND ITS USELESS ROBOT CUSTOMER SERVICE STAFF ARE GARBAGE - JUST LIKE THEIR “PRODUCT”. STAY AWAY FROM THIS TOTAL MONEY STEALING SCAM!!!

by Rifjdjsndj

I like the idea of Empower and so wish it worked. Unfortunately for the year or so that I stuck with Empower , it never functioned properly. I was constantly trying to reconnect accounts that disconnected for no reason. Sometimes they wouldn’t reconnect and I’d have to keeping trying to connect it for multiple days until it finally worked. Ultimately the main bank account I had my subscription to disconnected and I couldn’t reconnect it. They told me to wait a month and try again. I waited and it didn’t work so they had no solution except for me to open a new checking account under a different bank or delete my account with them and recreate (neither of which is solving the problem of THEIR app!). I’ve had multiple emails with customer service and they clearly don’t read the entire email or just want to get their credit for responding and send suggestions for things I already stated in the email that I had tried. I feel like they do not care to fix Empower and it’s very frustrating since this is a subscription service.

by Sebastian Mart

After canceling my subscription and account with this app, it continued to take from my account and place into its savings. When trying to contact the help center, it only continues saying “there seems to be an error, please try again in a few moments. If now email us” at the email they give. After a day of trying to use their in app help service , but is so bugged out of an app it still wouldn’t load. So I used the email they gave but after another whole day there’s been no response, not even an automated message. Do not use. Also even though I have canceled every thing and signed out, it appears it still continues to be connected to my bank account because it still sends me notifications of my transactions through this app even when not signed in and “supposedly” they have shut my account and described it. They have done it two weeks now. I have no access to that “savings” account because I have canceled my subscription and all with them., but they continue to have access to my account and withdrawal money and monitor my personal bank account.

by Countrygirl0732

Worst app ever. I used them for 9 months. Fairly consistently. I always paid on time. Tipped. Etc. Then I had an issue with my bank account. I contacted Earnin and explained that the money would not be in my account and I needed to push my payment back a couple weeks. It had never happened before. They refused and said they had already started the process of debiting the money and couldn’t stop it…. And I should have asked them sooner to push the payment back. I would have loved to but unfortunately hackers don’t give advance notice before they hack your bank account. 🙄I told them the money wouldn’t be there and I would be charged a fee. I got disconnected from the chat 5 times…. Then was told if the money wasn’t there it would be returned to them and if I was charged a fee to contact them. Well the payment wasn’t returned and I was charged a fee. I contacted them and was basically told tough crap. There is nothing we can do and I didn’t meet the criteria to have my bank fee reimbursed but no one would tell me what those criteria were. I will never use them again. Dave is way better and I never have had an issue with them.

by Grace In PA

I made a cash app transfer of $94 to a friend. Cash app canceled because the ID I used was not valid. I reached out and got a valid ID to resend. This time it failed. This all took place on Friday May 24. I reached out to this app and was told it takes a few days for the money to be returned. By mid week I’m reaching out again and was told there didn’t seem to be available funds for that transaction on Friday. Not true. When I pointed that out to CS I’m told they have to look into it to see what is going on. Tomorrow is May 31 and I still don’t have my money back into my account. How complicated is this? Checks and balances. Since you can’t overdraft and all transactions are listed on dashboard why is it difficult to determine what happened? By checks and balances I should have a balance and I don’t. In all of my years of banking I’ve never encountered this. CS is nonchalant, it may not be important to them however it is to me. I’ve been using Chime bank. I will be going back to Chime. I had misplaced my Chime debit card and had to wait for a replacement so I thought I’d try this app. I should have just had my DD put on my Cash App card. I give 1/2 a star. I’m so disappointed. I would steer clear of such a bank that takes this long to resolve an issue as simple as this!

by Qroco

I have been on the hunt for the perfect financial app to help me with budgeting and goals. My ideal app would be able to link to my accounts, I would be able to easily see the different categories that I am spending money on (food, shopping, bills, etc.) and I would be able to create my own financial goals (for vacations, large purchases, etc.)
this app makes it SUPER easy to see exactly where your money is going to. It makes it easy to change thing from category to category if need be. this app is easier to use compared to the other financial apps I have used including Mint and Clarity.
My one request is to add a way to create personal financial goals. I want to be able to say “I want to save 10,000 in the next 3 years for such and such, where can I save money and how much money do I need to be saving per month in order to make this goal?”
If I had that, this app would be a five star, for sure.

by YuukiB15

this app is the most efficient way to take control of your finances. The ability to for Empower to keep track of all my purchases, place them into categories, and note how much I’m spending (overall and per category) makes budgeting a breeze. So much so that I’ve opted to go with the premium monthly subscription. With that though are two feature I would like to see introduced: the ability to delete categories and the ability to create my own transactions when I use cash. There are numerous default categories that I will never use that simply create clutter. To be able to narrow those selections down to just those I use frequently would be a huge improvement. Additionally, I would like to be able to keep track of purchases I make with cash, so that I get a complete sense of my expenses. These two features would make Empower as close to perfect, in my opinion.

by Kibby La Bella

They have a good system going on, good banking, borrowing system etc. the frustration only sets in when you want things to happen because every process in Empower is slow:

I was prompted to link my Chase Bank with this app, and with linking my bank, I expect the application to report banking actions as they happen or at least within the hour… for example, I get paid on fridays… I get the notification of my direct deposit days later. Same thing with regular store purchases.

Their lending service is appreciated: I can borrow $50, $75 (If I agree to have it sent to the credit card they sent me), or $200 if I sign up to get direct deposits through this app. I would sign up for direct deposits but am hesitant that I will not get paid right away due to their already slow services.

Lastly, I want to shed a little more light on their lending service. Whatever I borrow, I have to pay it back, I get that. But what irritates me is that it takes about 5 days for that repayment to process, which means I can’t borrow from them until that repayment clears through them. Most apps I borrow from only need about 1 business day for repayment to reflect on Empower and I can borrow again. Not this app, no.

I have 4/5 starts because I appreciate the services and am glad they can help people like me lot. But the company itself is flawed and they should really take a second to improve on the issues listed above.

Thank you!

by Philsilog

The only opportunity I see for improvement is that I’m able to link up all my accounts except my Alliant Credit Union Account. I’ve seen some reviews where people are also having trouble linking up their credit union account. Also, the maximum you can transfer is $2,500 per week. What?!? At least make it $10,000. I was trying to transfer $10,000 from my Chase to my this app savings account to take advantage of the competitive APY but the transfer limit is way too low. What if I needed money for an emergency and I had most of my cash in this app?! That’s the only reason why I would not make this my primary savings account.. until they increase that to at least $10,000. Empower also sometimes doesn’t open up and you have to close application and try to open it again. It’s intermittent. Other than that, Empower is great. It has all your balances and investments in one place. They help you renegotiate bills which I thought was not possible at all. I also love the user experience, one of the best.

by Ali_vonleikam

I absolutely love Empower. It is by far the best budgeting app I have used, ever. And I have used them all! It also connects to my other bank accounts and credit card accounts, so when it budgets, it budgets ALL OF THE THINGS. So great! The only thing that I hate about Empower is that my paychecks are always coming in at inconsistent times. I received my paycheck one day early one time, but as of recently I’ve been receiving my ACH paycheck in late - which is super stressful. You want to know where your money is at all times if you’re a budgeter. So, that’s kind of stressful. If you reach out to support, (and let me just say, the support team is phenomenal), they will usually tell me it takes a certain amount of time for ACH’s to come in - that doesn’t change the fact that it’s been inconsistent most of the time. If the this app team could figure that issue out, this would be the winning budget/banking app. The look of Empower is incredible and aesthetically pleasing. They way it works is user friendly and I get excited to use Empower . I wish my paychecks came in on time, that’s the only setback about Empower.

by Mechbi

Initially I had some trouble connecting my bank but as soon as I got everything set up it’s AMAZING. I love being able to look at my savings and checking account balances as well as my credit card statement all at the same time. Everything you need is on the main screen so there’s no unnecessary scrolling through multiple pages. Empower allows you to set budgets, for example how much you want to allow yourself to spend every month and by week on different items and overall. They make a cool graph so you can very easily see what you’re buying and keep track of how much you’ve spent & how much you have left to spend based on the budget you set for yourself. I can’t say enough good things about Empower, it’s amazing I love it so much, it’s making keeping track of my money so much easier.

by Khem Heru

Initially, I have been Using this Bank for a few Months Now, I admire when I use an ATM, this Bank give me back the Fees that, the ATM Charge me., so please keep up the great Work. Furthermore, when I need assistance, please respond within a timely manner, The previous Bank you guys were using the Deposited $9989 dollars within my Account, then I wrote you guys I never received a response for weeks. Moreover, this incident was an internal error on you guys part. Therefore, the bank should give me the Funds instead give me the funds. Moreover, I hope this does not ever happened again., Thanks for swishing Banks Partners. 👑👏🏾👏🏾💯, continue to provide us with 1.00 yield, a lot has happen with this my accounts now you guys are living another Bank, I’m confuse with the Switch. This New Bank is doing a good Job. Just continue allow us to receive or Funds, thank you for letting us know about the switch of Banks.

by Cmoniiieyeeyuy

I very rarely write reviews, but for Empower I’m going to make an exception. I’ve been searching for a budgeting and savings app for a while now, and I’ve tried competitors like mint and even gave a couple paid offerings a shot. Honestly, Empower is far better than the competition. It includes all the same features you’ve come to expect in a budgeting app such as financial advice and linking accounts, but it does it better. One good example of its superior customer experience is the feature to add and remove specific accounts from your financial institution (For instance, if you have a savings account connected to your chase checking account that you’ve never touched, it’s not going to be around to irritate you and take up space.) Empower even lets you link your investment institutions and lets you see how your securities are doing right in Empower ! My only gripe is that for whatever reason I’m having trouble connecting my Robinhood account. If anyone from customer service sees this review, I’d be very grateful for some assistance. : )

by AmorDon

I’ve Only Been With This Bank For Less Than 3 weeks and I’m Already Having Problems. The First Time I Transferred Money from my first bank to my this app bank my funds were posted and available the same day the transfer was completed. The 2nd time I transferred money i got a notification that the transfer was complete but this time my funds weren’t posted & isn't available. I Can’t Call Customer Service To Speak With Anyone I have to Email Them. All they tell me is that it takes 1-5 business days to transfer but if it is complete then That Information is Irrelevant because I’ve already done the waiting period for it to complete and I’ve got the email letting me know the transfer is complete so now I have to play the waiting game waiting on my money. This will be my last time using this bank and I will not recommend this bank to anyone , you all do not have real customer service. And I will let everyone know what I am going through. You don’t play with people money when they’re trusting u with it

by MattMadd84

I think the layout and organization of Empower is decent however I take issue with the fact that my accounts are not regularly updated. This makes it near impossible to get an accurate profile of my accounts (what’s been paid, how much I owe, etc.). Most times I find myself going to an individual account’s website to get this information which defeats the purpose of having this app in the first place. What’s worse is that there doesn’t seem to even be a means for manually refreshing account information as with some other apps I had so your only option is to delete the account and re-enter it again to get the updated info. It is really frustrating because this issue has persisted for months and nothings been done about to address or even acknowledge it for that matter. I don’t believe I will continue with this app much longer as I feel there are better options available.

by Dansanpha1

Allows transfers with smaller limits. As an online bank with no check deposit it should support higher limits. As a bank it should still evolve, no deposit check, bill pay, checks. Transfers can take 3 business days to complete but sometimes higher than that. Even though they were giving boost intially it was tough to transfer money into the account. Now I will have hard time taking out the money. They don't even give an official withdrawal check for savings
Interest rates are good, great during the referral period, I guess compounded and paid daily in the statement, couldn't verify as I can't download it on iPhone, looks like a bug. Mentioned it to support, wasn't fixed yet.
Other features are great except for minor bugs. Transactions sometimes were showing duplicate and pending.

Other accounts don't refresh often sometimes even Weeks, so it doesn't help to know your current balances. Used it for over a month the AI suggestions just started but I just have common basic subscriptions.

Hope they get better and become a complete bank and introduce basic stuff and fix all issues

The statement share option is now visible and I got my Feb statements but it is not able to load or share until loaded. There are decent number of transactions in it

by Carkur

I never write app reviews, but this is exactly Empower I needed. I’ve fought a long time with Quicken and hated it but saw no other option. This saved my budget and helped me get out of credit card debt fast.

I’m especially thankful for the auto save portion because my employer doesn’t do percentages and I’ve just been putting a flat amount into my savings monthly. This posed a challenge as I am a part time hourly worker with great schedule variance. This was the solution I needed!

The only thing I wish is that I could have more than one auto save option. It seems that isn’t the case at the moment. I’d like to be able to save for two things at once! Hopefully this will be a possibility in the future. I recommend Empower to everyone who wants to manage their money easily and well.

by GoGators!!!!!!

this app has great sync features, and easily able to track individual categories, and it's holistic overview of personal finance is very mint-esque without the annoying advertisements. THE ONE feature I think that's lacking is the ability to group expenses by categories such as housing (under which could be rent, internet, electricity etc.) And the ability to customize the tracking feature for customized periods of time. As it stands currently, you can only look at the last 2 months, and yearly. The ability to customize these types of tracking features would make this an elite app. I think these are some of the biggest issues preventing me from buying the yearly subscription. I really like Empower, it's closely behind YNAB, but needs a few tweaks!