Is the Earnin App Legit?

Name: Earnin App
Website: www.earnin.com
Price: Free
Type: Payday loan alternative
Overall Rank: 99 out of 100

Is the Earnin App Legit?

If you’re looking for a quick answer, yes, the Earnin app is legit. Feel free to Sign up.

If you’re looking for more details, you’re in luck because this just happens to be a complete review of the Earnin App.

I’m going to give you a thorough overview of how it works, the logic behind it, the pricing, all the advantages, and the two things to be aware of to keep the app from turning into a major problem.

What is the Earnin App?

Earnin is an app that will probably put every payday loan company out of business within 2-4 years. It works the same as a payday loan, meaning you get an advancement of a portion of future pay and the company debits your account on pay day.

What sets Earnin apart from every other payday loan service is that they don’t charge a set fee. Other payday loan services charge between $15-30 per $100 lent, which usually turns into about 400% interest by the time the loan gets paid back.

Instead of charging a fee, Earnin lets you choose how much you want to pay by leaving a tip that can range from $0 – $13.50.

How awesome is that?

How Does Earnin Work?

You link your bank account so they can debit the money you owe on pay day.

You enter your work address and it tracks the hours you work by using your phone’s location. Whatever amount of time you spend at that location, your phone will track it and add it to your available earnings so it can be withdrawn when you need it.

You’ll know when the hours have registered because you’ll hear a cha-ching, much like a cash register. It kind of reminded me of my drop shipping days with eBay and DS Domination.

On pay day, they debit the amount you borrowed plus the tip if you chose to leave one.

How Fast Do You Get Your Money?

Personally, I didn’t really need it, but I used it anyway to make sure it was legit. I worked a day, but instead of waiting for the hours to show up on their own within a day or two after working like they usually do, I took a picture of the time sheet and sent it in.

After about 10 minutes, I got a notification saying the money was in my account and ready to be taken out.

In addition to taking a picture of your time sheet to speed up how fast the money is available for withdrawal, you also have the option of linking your debit card to the account to speed up how fast you get the cash advancement.

I linked mine and I got my cash within 5 minutes of requesting it.

Is the Earnin App Really Free?

Yes, it’s really free although they do make it very clear that they want you to leave a tip.

If I really needed this service, I wouldn’t have a problem with leaving 5-10% as a tip since the only other option is getting robbed for up to 30% by a payday loan company. In this case, I only tipped $2 for the $100 that I withdrew because I was only doing it to make sure it was legit for this review.

How Much Can I Cash Out?

Everyone starts at $100 per pay period. You have the potential to get your limit raised to as high as $500 for an individual or you can get access to your entire pay check if your job partners directly with Earnin.

Here’s what you need to do to get your max raised:

Manage your money

Remember earlier in the review when I said you link your bank account to the app? That means they know how much money is in your account at all times. Show that you know how to manage money by making sure your account never goes negative. They’ll know if it does and that counts against you.

Use Earnin regularly and responsibly

They give higher limits to people that they’ve known for a while, people who tip, and people who have the money they owe available to Earnin on the day that it’s supposed to be returned. This includes making sure the bank info is correct so there are no hold-ups when it’s time to pay them back.

Tell your job about Earnin

This is optional, of course, but Earnin will make your entire paycheck available to you if your job chooses to partner with them. A copy-and-paste solicitation is available on the app that you can tweet to your employer. If they partner together, you’ll have access to your whole pay check whenever you need it.

The Only App that Gives You Superpowers

Okay, you won’t have real superpowers, but you do get access to two features that I thought were awesome and well-thought-out.

First, you can link your debit card to your account to speed up how fast you get your cash-outs. The alternative is to have your money direct deposited to your bank account, which takes a few days. When it’s deposited to a debit card, it takes less than 5 minutes.

I requested a payout and logged into my bank account immediately. The money was already there.

The second superpower is Balance Shield, the ability to prevent overdraft fees before they ever happen. You can set your account to automatically deposit up to $100 (assuming you have wages available for withdrawal) once your bank account drops below $100.

This is a great way to prevent your account from going negative so you never have to deal with overdraft fees.

My Final Opinion of the Earnin App

Use it if you need it. It works; it’s legit and it’s affordable.

A few words of caution though:

1. Always leave a tip. Don’t mess up a good thing. Earnin is leaving it up to you decide how much you want to pay for a service that has a ton of value, but make no mistakes about it, they are a business and businesses have to make money to stay in business.

If everyone uses up their resources without compensating them, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them cut the pay-what-you-think-is-fair option and start charging a flat rate.

If you’re going to use it, do your part to keep the charge flexible by tipping every time, even if it’s just a few dollars.

2. No one likes waiting to get paid, but one of the benefits of getting paid every two weeks is that it makes you be more responsible in budgeting your money. Don’t start spending frivolously and end up in a bad situation just because you can get your pay early with Earnin.

FINAL RATING: 99 out of 100