It’s a life saver!
Good day. I was skeptical at first, but I went with it. Being a single mom living in NY is challenging. I’m a very responsible person but we all have our weeks lol. I am very prideful so I don’t like asking for a helping hand. I came across Empower on Facebook & were pleased with the reviews! When they said instantly they really meant it! I was approved for $250! It was in my checking account in seconds! There is a $7 fee if you want it in less than an hour. You will have to link your banking & debit card info. The trial is free for 14 days then $8 a month there after. You pay it back on your next pay period. This app is worth it when you’re in desperate need of a couple of hundreds to get you through the week. I’m very pleased with this app!
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Simple & Fast/ Pros & cons IMO!
Took me 4 minutes to sign up and receive my first $25. I just did it to see if it works and apparently the more you use this app to borrow and how fast you pay each loan amount back depends on how quickly the next borrowed loan amount increases. I set it up to pay it back in three days because that’s technically when I get paid again. It’s suppose to go to $50 after that so we will see. (UPDATE/EDIT: didn’t go to $50 after the first time, stayed at 25 for second offer after I paid it back on time, on the scheduled date I picked. Once again it says will go to 50 so m gonna borrow one more time just to see. I was thinking maybe you need to use the app often to receive a higher offer.) I don’t care for the fee you have to pay for get the $25 it was $2. No big deal. So the $27 doesn’t have to be paid till you schedule to pay it back. Also, not a fan of the $8 monthly fee after the 14 day free trial. If I’m already borrowing money and paying a small fee I don’t see why I have to pay a monthly fee.
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Genius Banking for Millennials
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.
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Response from developer
Hi there, thanks for the feedback. Please email our team directly at help@empower.me so we can provide further assistance! Our team will get back to you as soon as possible.
It’s ok
It’s not a bad app but I do have a couple of complaints. My first complaint is the processing time. It took nearly a whole week for my payment to process. My second complaint is after it took forever for the repayment to process, I couldn’t qualify again which is weird because I paid the payment on time plus the subscription fee. I honestly think that’s their way of luring you in. Have you qualify the first time and then you pay it back and then they find a reason not to approve if you need it again. That way they can continue to charge you $8 a month. After not qualifying again, I reached out to customer service about refunding the $8 fee and closing my account because It’s pointless to spend money on a service you can’t even use. Of course when I reached out to customer service I got no response.
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Customer support is no help
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. 🙏🏾
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. 🙏🏾
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Lacking Features
Unfortunately, this isn't a stand alone bank account since you have to link it to another bank account and transfer money into it. There is no mobile deposit or other means to have a full suite of banking services. I want to leave brick and mortar banks altogether but am stuck because of the outside account linkage requirements.
They also withdrew a direct deposit until I proved it was mine causing bill payments to be returned. The hassle to get issues resolved, the lack of meaningful banking features and other blah experiences (even though I have the free version which means I’ve been patient from the very beginning) I’m finally leaving.
If you're like me in this regard, try another online bank. The auto-savings feature, the cool debit card, and the ease of using the app are all cool but there are other feature laden online accounts with much better customer service.
They also withdrew a direct deposit until I proved it was mine causing bill payments to be returned. The hassle to get issues resolved, the lack of meaningful banking features and other blah experiences (even though I have the free version which means I’ve been patient from the very beginning) I’m finally leaving.
If you're like me in this regard, try another online bank. The auto-savings feature, the cool debit card, and the ease of using the app are all cool but there are other feature laden online accounts with much better customer service.
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Cool at first then switched up
Everything was cool I initially signed up for direct deposit with at least $200 to be qualified for the $100 after hiccups of not being able to get an actual empower card still never got one til this day smh but custom service linked my own card so I will be able to get an advance I qualified twice for the $100 and paid them back on time !!! All of a sudden I’m not qualified anymore not even for the $25 smh constantly contacted support once again and I’m always hit with “there’s nothing we can do about it but hey here’s a free month for the inconvenience lol” what a joke I should’ve known sim was fishy when I first got the app and weeks in I was already contacting support about my card I never received and the problem still haven’t been fixed I’m closing my account soon I don’t tried everything I could with this company even link my job too to show them I make enough to qualify even up to $250 but nope I get the run around with them good riddance!!
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Relieved
After downloading, signing up, going through 5 min verifications of a dozen apps like this, I thought I’d run into the same walls. Whether it be verification issues or being misled, I didn’t have any issues with Empower!! I had to wait a few mins to get the instant transfer (needed the money literally ASAP so I was getting stressed) and it came thru!
Now don’t get me wrong, Earnin, Dave and FloatMe are equally great. I’m sure you all will find that as well. But the ease of access with Empower was such a weight lifted off my chest. I only qualified for $50, but I already borrowed $100 from Dave so it’s probably a good thing. I don’t want an empty bank account when payday comes. Thanks to the Empower team!!! You guys are great! And I’m seriously considering a bank account with you all.
Now don’t get me wrong, Earnin, Dave and FloatMe are equally great. I’m sure you all will find that as well. But the ease of access with Empower was such a weight lifted off my chest. I only qualified for $50, but I already borrowed $100 from Dave so it’s probably a good thing. I don’t want an empty bank account when payday comes. Thanks to the Empower team!!! You guys are great! And I’m seriously considering a bank account with you all.
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Could use some work
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 the app is slow:
I was prompted to link my Chase Bank with Empower, 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 Empower. 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 the app and I can borrow again. Not Empower, 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!
I was prompted to link my Chase Bank with Empower, 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 Empower. 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 the app and I can borrow again. Not Empower, 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!
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Response from developer
Thank you for the feedback. We are working on constantly improving our products, so this feedback is extremely valuable. I would like to assure you that our engineering team is currently working on a fix for app response speeds and we hope to have this fix/patch in place soon. Please feel free to reach out to us at help@empower.me with any other questions or concerns.
DO NOT USE
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.
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