It’s normal to feel panicked if you reach the end of your paycheck without paying your bills. The truth is that panicking people will often make stupid decisions, such as taking out payday loans with high interest from unscrupulous lenders.
There are many better ways to get the money you need without falling into the payday loan trap. A cash advance app is one of these options. There are many of them. We’ll be looking at one in this post. It’s called Albert and is here to help.
What is Albert?
Albert was founded in 2015 by Yinon Ravid, Andrzej Baraniak and was not a cash advance app. It is not a cash advance app, and most people would hesitate to call it that. Albert is a financial advisor, and even though it offers a cash advance up to $250, Think Mint or You need a budget instead of FloatMe and MoneyLion.
Albert has been a mainstay of the fintech industry since its 2015 launch. It has raised $173million in funding to date. The company launched “Albert Cash” in August 2021. This app adds online banking functionality to its functions.
Albert offers investing and personal financial advice for improving spending habits and allows users to start building an investment portfolio right from their smartphone. You can either let Albert pick your stocks or make the selections yourself.
What makes Albert different from other fintech and cash-advance apps that have followed its lead? Since the start, Ravid and Baraniak have been dedicated to providing Albert’s users with access to fundamental human and financial advisors. The majority of apps use AI to answer questions. Albert’s users can access Albert “Geniuses”, who can answer questions in real-time via an in-app texting platform.
The Best Apps Similar to Albert
Cleo
Like Albert, Cleo allows you to save, borrow money, manage your finances, and build credit.
Cleo can be set up in just two minutes. An AI assistant is available to assist you in staying on track. You can set monthly goals based on your expenses.
Budgeting can seem overwhelming, especially if you have to manage everything yourself. Cleo helps you with everything, including expenditure updates, advice and buildups.
Cleo is your best savings partner. Cleo makes saving seem like a side business. This app can help you save money for a down payment or build an emergency fund.
These robust tools will help you reduce your spending and focus on your financial health. Once you achieve your goal, Cleo celebrates you.
You can borrow as little as $20 to $70 as a first-timer, and you can unlock your limit of up to $100 after you have paid it back.
Cleo, unlike Albert, has created a credit card that helps you improve your credit score. You can then buy a house or car and pay your rent.
YNAB
You Need A Budget (YNAB) is a personal budgeting tool that you can access from the web, Android, iOS, iPhone and iPad, Apple Watch and Amazon’s Alexa.
The app offers many features that make budgeting more manageable and more convenient.
It’s easy to set it up. After you sign up, you get a free trial for 34 days.
This app makes it easy and secure to connect to your bank. It is also possible to automatically import transactions. This takes only a few days.
YNAB allows you to view your budget updates on all devices, including your smartphone, tablet or computer.
You can set powerful goals and track your progress with the app. You can see if you’re overspending or achieving your goal by looking at the progress bars. The progress bars will also show you the remaining funds with your saving goal not being met and the amount spent on it.
You can also create financial goals categories and track your progress.
You can also securely link your bank accounts, allowing you to see all of your financial information from one place.
YNAB’s loan planning tool allows you to calculate the interest and time you have saved to pay off your debt. This feature was not available on Albert.
YNAB also provides reports on your budget and net worth to see how your progress is.
Chime
Chime allows online banking with no minimum deposit, minimum balance or monthly fees. Chime does not charge foreign transaction fees. You can access your favourite stores with up to 60,000+ fee-free ATMs. These stores can be easily tracked using the app’s map.
SpotMe’s fee-free tool for overdraft allows you to make a withdrawal of up to $200 using a debit card. The Chime Credit Builder card lets you get cash at more than 60,000 ATMs for no fees at your favourite stores like CVS Pharmacy and Walgreens.
Chime supports mobile payment apps such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay. It’s not necessary to always carry your wallet with you, making it easy to purchase what you want wherever you are.
With Chime’s mobile application, money transfer is more accessible. You can transfer money from your savings account to your checking account in just a few clicks. It is possible to connect an external bank account to the app. This makes it easier to transfer money to your Chime account.
Chime automates saving, making it simple for those who struggle to save.
Chime’s mobile deposit allows you to deposit checks quickly and easily from anywhere with just a snap of the check. A mobile check deposit is a great way to save time and avoid waiting in lines. Albert, however, doesn’t offer a mobile check deposit option to deposit money into your account.
Chime allows you to send checks via email to individuals or businesses.
Mint
Mint is an online personal finance application that offers a unique way of managing your money. This app allows you to set goals and access free tools such as custom budgets, personal insights, subscription monitoring, spend tracking, and subscription monitoring.
The app allows you to keep all of your money in one location. The app allows you to track where your money is going by adding your bills, investments, credit cards and cash. All this information can be accessed from the This month tab.
Mint encourages responsible spending and more significant savings. You can automatically identify savings that you may have missed using the app.
Financial tools can help you stay focused on your financial goals. How?
You can track your spending and receive notifications if you exceed your limits.
This app also helps you find more money opportunities to reduce your spending.
Mint will alert you whenever your bills are due, or your balance is low. You can avoid penalties and fees for late payments by using Mint.
Mint also gives you free 24/7 access to your credit score. It will notify you if your report has changed in any significant way. This feature is not available for Albert.
You can also receive overdraft protection alerts through the app.
Digit
Digit is financial software that does everything for you, including budgeting, saving and investing.
You can see the amount you are allowed to spend once you have opened your app. Digit keeps track of your spending habits and goals and intelligently separates deposits for savings, investments, and bills.
Digit will help you be ready for your bills. It calculates the correct amount to transfer into your Bills account. This includes the monthly bills such as rent, subscriptions or utilities.
Separate bills will ensure that you don’t spend more than you need each month. Albert saves for general purposes only and does not focus on bills.
Digit makes it easy to reach your savings goals. Digit saves frequently, so your savings account has enough money to meet your goals.
Are you looking to invest? Digit will match your portfolio with the right investment strategy and allow you to contribute whenever you are able. Digit can help you choose the best IRA for your retirement.
Acorns
Acorns can help you save, invest and improve your bank habits.
Acorns investing allows you to create investment accounts for yourself and your family in five minutes. Roundups are a way to invest extra money.
Experts can also help you build smartly diversified portfolios. You can easily invest as little as $3 per month in these portfolios to help you reach your long-term financial goals.
Acorns offer automatic portfolio rebalancing, making it easy to invest and grow your money.
This app allows you to set up an automatic, recurring investment that starts at $5 per day, week or month, and it can be done in the background every day.
Acorns’ Earn feature allows you to earn money by shopping at 350+ top brands. Invite friends to earn and explore millions of remote and part-time job opportunities. It’s easy to use the Acorns Earn extension on Chrome. Albert does not have this feature.
Acorns provide bank-level security to your information. It prevents unauthorized account access and alerts you in the event of unusual activity.
With real-time Roundups and Smart deposits, the Acorns Visa debit cards save and invest your money. Access to more than 55,000 ATMs is free of charge.
You can also learn from Acorns by gaining solid financial tips and tricks via CNBC.
You will also get paid two days earlier if you make a direct deposit to Acorns checking.
Personal Capital
Personal Capital is an investment app and budgeting tool that allows you to take control of your finances through various financial tools such as Net Worth, Savings Planner and Retirement Planner, Investment Checkup and Cash Flow, Budgeting and Free Analyzer.
Net worth allows you to see precisely what you have and what you owe. You can then make better decisions about how you manage your money.
Saving Planner will help you determine how much you are saving and what you should be saving. This tool can be used to plan your retirement savings and emergency fund.
Budgeting allows you to automatically organize your savings and spending by merchant, date, or category. This allows you to set spending goals and track them easily.
Retirement Planner helps you plan, manage and predict your retirement. This makes it stand out among Albert.
You can also get financial tools such as a Fee analyzer, Investment Checkup and Financial Roadmap to ensure a healthy financial future.
Personal Capital is also committed to protecting your financial information. Personal Capital employs multiple layers of security to protect your accounts and money, and personal information.
It allows you to view all of your accounts from one place. This makes it simple to manage and track your finances.
All of these tools are completely free. This gives you a 360-degree overview of your money at any time.
Goodbudget
Goodbudget is a budgeting program that uses the modern envelope budget system.
Goodbudget allows you to create envelopes for each budgeting category, such as rent, groceries, and date nights. You can set aside money for different categories in each envelope. You don’t need to spend your account balance.
This allows you to track and plan your spending.
Goodbudget, unlike Albert, syncs with your household budget and shares it on your smartphone. This will let you see how much you’ve spent on what, when, and where.
Do you want to make large purchases that could drain your bank accounts, such as a vacation or a car?
Goodbudget can help you plan and save money for large expenses months in advance.
You can track your debt payments and see when you are debt-free. You can also set aside money for other purposes.
Prism
Prism, a financial app for free, tracks your bills and sends reminders about due dates. You can also save time by not having to log in to multiple sites for due dates and payment reminders.
This app shows you your account balances, monthly expenditures, and income at a glance.
Unlike Albert, PrismPrism pulls in balances and due dates for more than 11,000 billers. Pay your bills quickly by debit, credit, bank account or prepaid.
All your accounts are accessible from one location with PrismPrism. You can monitor your account balances easily and choose which account you want to use for your subsequent payments.
Do you want an app that allows you to pay your bills quickly and without any fees? You’ve found it with PrismPrism.
You can schedule bill payments on the same day or weeks in advance.
This app guarantees your privacy. You can delete your device permanently if your account is stolen. All sensitive data are encrypted using 256-bit AES encryption.
Simplifi
Quicken’s finance app, Simplifi, allows you to consolidate all of your accounts into one place and keep track of your finances.
The application pulls together your bank accounts, investments, savings, and loans in one place. It also downloads transactions and balances them automatically. The data is then categorized by Simplifi so that you can easily understand and make informed financial decisions.
You can see where your cash is coming from by looking at the categorized expenses. The app tracks your regular bills and allows you to see the total amount and when they were paid.
You can also add as many savings to your account as you like. This gives you the confidence to spend money today, knowing that you will be able to reach your financial goals in the future.
This tool allows you to track your progress, get insight into optimizing your spending, and maximize your savings to reach your goals faster.
Simplify can generate personal finance reports such as income, savings, spending, net income, monthly summary reports and income reports. These resorts give you better insight into your financial life, and you can personalize them to show exactly what you want. This feature is not available in Albert.
Simplifi charges a subscription cost of $5.99 per month or $35.99 annually. The app is available for free for 30 days.
PocketGuard
PocketGuard is an app that allows you to organize and categorize your monthly bills, expenses and subscriptions. It’s free and can help you stay on top of your finances.
After setting aside money for goals and bills, the app will show you what’s in your wallet.
The app also allows you to see what expenses consume the most of your money. You can personalize reports by using hashtags and custom categories.
PocketGuard allows you to keep all of your accounts in one place. You can easily monitor all account balances and net worth.
Do you want an app that allows you to negotiate your rates? PocketGuard lets you lower your phone bills, cable, and other services. Albert does not offer this.
Autosave allows you to increase your savings and reach your goals quickly. The app will automatically calculate how much you want.
The app places a high priority on the security of your data. All your data is protected and secured with 256-bit SSL encryption. Additional security layers such as biometrics and PIN code are available if you lose your phone.
Cash App
Cash App is a mobile payment app that allows you to send, spend and bank your money.
It’s now easier than ever to send and receive money anywhere and anytime. All you need to get started is a $cashtag.
You can personalize the debit card to match your style, and you can use it wherever you want to get discounts.
The Cash App account allows for faster direct deposits and can allow you to get your paychecks as early as two days before the deadline. If your account has at least $300 in monthly income, you can withdraw through the ATM for free.
Cash App makes it easy to invest in stocks or bitcoin, whether you are a beginner or an experienced investor. The best thing? The best part? You can start as low as $1.
Advanced security features are used in the app, including data encryption and verification locks. This ensures your money and information remain safe.
Qapital
Qapital, a mobile app for personal finance, lets you save, invest, and spend to reach any goal.
This app makes it easy to save without thinking. This app makes it easy to save money for your long-term financial goals and allows you to visualize the tradeoffs.
To reduce your recurring debts, you can save money and achieve financial freedom.
Qapital can help you keep control of your finances and organize your life.
Are you looking to invest? Qapital will help you figure it all out
Potential investors will find the app’s built-in portfolios helpful. You can make your savings more meaningful and last longer by adding an investment portfolio.
Qapital allows you to automate your budget. Spending Sweet Spot helps you to stick to your weekly goals. This feature will set a goal for you and let you keep the rest.
Payday Divy allows you to separate your paycheck from the moment it arrives in your account. You can budget without any hassle.
This app, unlike Albert, allows couples to share their money and set goals. The price of the plan will not change, so couples can choose the one that suits their needs.
Qapital offers Basic, Complete and Premier Plans at $3, $6, and $12.
Dave
A banking app called ave that aims to simplify your financial life is a product called ave.
Dave can give you a small advance on your next paycheck to help cover a bill. Then you can pay it back with no interest and credit checks.
This app, unlike Albert, allows you to improve your credit score. Dave’s partnership with LevelCredit allows you to report rent payments on credit bureaus.
This service costs $100, but Dave members get it for free.
Dave Banking lets you say goodbye to all fees, whether ATM fees, overdraft fees, or minimum balance fees.
Dave’s automated budgeting features allow you to monitor your spending and pay your bills.
You can always count on the app’s well-trained professionals to assist you with any aspect of your account.
Every Dave account is protected with banking-level security. This keeps your data safe.
Dave’s Side Hustle feature lets you save more by finding side hustles that fit your schedule.
Dave is free, but only $1 per month for account monitoring and alerts.
Empower
Empower, a personal finance app for Android and iOS devices combines all your accounts into one place.
Are you in urgent need of cash? Empower will provide you with a cash advance up to $250 that you can repay in your next paycheck. This is without interest, late fees or risk to your credit.
Empower delivers your paycheck two days sooner than other banks. Once you have connected your paycheck depositor to Empower, you are ready to go.
You can get up to 10% cashback, but not Albert. This app is tailored for you and your shopping history.
You can withdraw cash from any 37,000 ATMs located across the US.
You can reach the team via live chat or your phone to get answers to your questions.
An email is also an option if you prefer it.
Conclusion
These apps are top-rated and can help you unlock your financial potential. Each app has a plan to help you start budgeting and other tasks.
You may be required to pay a monthly fee to access cash advances or other premium services. The Chime, however, does not charge any fees and is an excellent option for your banking needs.
Each app has its advantages and disadvantages. It’s challenging to choose which one is better than Albert. These apps will be enjoyable, so take your time to choose the right one for you.
