The hype is not what it seems
Well I got this app. 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
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Response from developer
Hi there, sorry to hear about your frustration. Please email our team at help@empower.me so we can look into this for you.
Do not use this app!!
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 this app 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 this app 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. This app is completely worthless!!
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. This app is completely worthless!!
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Response from developer
Hi there, sorry to hear about your experience. The subscription fee is currently $8 for our AutoSave, budgeting, smart recommendations and banking features. Regarding Cash Advance eligibility, we will keep in mind your feedback as we work to improve our products.
Such a frustrating app I give up
I like the idea of the app and so wish it worked. Unfortunately for the year or so that I stuck with the app, 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 the app and it’s very frustrating since this is a subscription service.
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Shady!!! Beware!!!!
I downloaded this app specifically for advances from check to check, which I was able to do. They have an autosave feature which I requested to have $10 taken every week. I then PAUSED it a week later and requested to have the money sent back to my account, which it did... now here’s the fun part. After requesting to have it sent back, it kept depositing the money back to my account, then repeatedly taking it back out. It’s been doing this for the last 3 days, mind you i CANCELLED the autosave feature so now it’s pulling money from my account without my authorization. Today the money got deposited back into my account, which was then taking AGAIN right after and I went into the app, it shows that my autosave balance is $0. Hmm so where’s the money app now? I cancelled my subscription immediately and am going to call my bank as soon as they open and have them block this app from attempting any transactions, oh and not to mention customer service is non existent!!
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Worst APP ever
This app 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 the app!!! 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.
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 the app!!! 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.
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Response from developer
Sorry about your experience. It sounds like this may be an issue with how your account is linked to our system. Please reach out to us at help@empower.me indicating this and we will escalate the issue for you.
DO NOT GET THE APP
After canceling my subscription and account with Empower, 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 empower 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.
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Dont accept cash advances
Everyone has hard times financially, i need to borrow a couple bucks for gas every now and then and every single time i borrowed $50 they charged me a $36 fee for whatever they wanted really, theyd say i didnt pay on time, that is entirely false, i had it automatically deducted first thing when i got my direct deposit. Then once my card info was in the system and everything it wants to start "saving me money" and it would take an additional $50 out every week to put in an "empower checking account" and they mailed me a debit card to use, i did not ask for you to take my money and make me an account, and when i transfer it back to my bank account it takes 3 business days, i already have talked with their support team and they said it was an error and they apologize and it shouldnt happen again but here we are, it happened twice more, along with the $36 fee for god knows what that i cant get back. Its a scam, plain and simple, dont use this garbage app!
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faults in app, confusing customer service
I was enjoying this app until I came across issues with using the AutoSave feature which allows you to build up savings over time by having a scheduled amount of money withdrawn from your checking. I noticed money withdrawing from my checking but it was not in turn being deposited into the AutoSavings. I reached out to Empower to solve this problem and get my money back, and after multiple confusing emails and being told my account was on temporary hold due to an incorrect social security number, I was told to contact Synapesfi, their payment processor. Empower has no phone number to reach and talk to customer service. I had to re-explain the issues I was experiencing to Synapesfi, and have still not received my money back. If the issue truly stemmed from entering an incorrect ss number, the app should have detected that and notified me right away/not allowed me to continue with creating an account before taking money out of my checking.
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Worse by the day
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. Empower 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. The app 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, the app 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. Empower has effectively rendered itself obsolete.
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DO NOT GET THIS APP...I REPEAT DO NOT
This app does not allow the user to unlink their account, which is a cause for concern. I want to cancel because they charge a $6/month fee for all new users. Before I cancel I want to remove my linked bank account but the app does not let you remove it. To cancel you have to email them and wait to get a response. I literally was on email all day back and forth to then have the person from Synapse say they can’t help me because they don’t know about the Empower app and they only handle the back-end banking. I asked who can assist me with the removal and she never replied. I googled and found a number which led me back to Synapse live person and explained everything again. At least this person emailed Empower app, cc’d me to get try to get some resolve. Which unfortunately did not happen, as I asked if they (Empower) can remove my linked account on the developer end and I got no response to my question. DO NOT USE THIS APP. The 1.6% is not worth the headache of the run around and non responsive Synapse customer support. Find an online bank that offers same or better rates with no headaches when you decide to cancel.
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Response from developer
Hi there, sorry to hear about your experience. Please email us directly at help@empower.me and our team will get this resolved for you as soon as possible.
