Brigit is a financial app that offers small cash advances of up to $250 to tide you over until your next payday. Helping borrowers avoid payday loans is a worthy goal, and Brigit boasts more than four million customers who want to borrow quick cash, build credit and save smarter.
But Brigit charges a $10 monthly fee to be eligible for advances that could be as low as $20, and late last year, the company reached a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission over allegations that the company’s promises of $250 advances were “deceptive” and that the service was exceptionally difficult to cancel.
Before you sign up for Brigit, here’s what you need to know.
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Key points
- Brigit offers small loans of up to $250 until your next paycheck
- There is no credit check
- Brigit’s basic services are free, or the pro plan is $10 per month
- You have to pay for the pro plan to get a cash advance
- It will take one to three business days for the advance to be deposited into your account
Update: In November 2023, the Federal Trade Commission announced that it has reached a settlement with Brigit over allegations that Brigit used deceptive advertising practices and made its paid subscription difficult to cancel. As part of the settlement, Brigit has agreed to pay $18 million in customer refunds and to simplify the cancellation process. The settlement still needs to be approved in court. Read more here.
What is Brigit?
Brigit offers small loans up to $250 that are repaid from your next paycheck. There is no credit check.
Instead, Brigit connects to your bank account and analyzes your banking history. It goes through up to two years’ worth (if your bank account is that old, of course) of transactions and gives you a “Brigit score.”
Brigit offers free services, but if you want a cash advance, you’ll have to pay for a “Plus” membership, which costs $10 monthly. The “Premium” subscription costs $15 a month and includes free express delivery.
Your Brigit score will determine whether you qualify for a cash advance and how much you can borrow. Not everyone will qualify, even if you pay for a subscription. Eligibility ranges from $20 to $250, but most customers can only borrow between $50 and $100.
How does Brigit work?
If you qualify for an advance and choose to get one, it can take up to three business days to receive your advance. You can choose to pay for express funding to get your money faster. The fee ranges from $0.99 to $3.99; express funding is included with a premium subscription.
Brigit will deposit the necessary funds via electronic funds transfer (EFT). You’ll be given a repayment date. On that date, Brigit will automatically withdraw the amount of your advance from your bank account as payment.
Pro tip: It could take 2-5 business days for your payment to process.
Brigit aims to make your repayment date the same as your next direct deposit. You can adjust it manually within the app if you are given a different date.
If you can’t pay your advance back on time, you can go into the app and request a payment extension and get a new repayment date. Brigit won’t charge you any fees or interest to do this.
What makes Brigit stand out?
Outside of cash advances, Brigit offers credit-builder tools, bank balance monitoring, budgeting help and financial advice. For overdraft protection, Brigit will monitor your account balance and automatically transfer money to your account — with no transfer fees — if you’re about to run short on cash. The company charges $9.99 a month for all these services.
You don’t have to pay the membership fee if you don’t want to. You’ll still be given access to banking and financial insights and basic budgeting tools. Unfortunately, you won’t qualify for a cash advance if you haven’t opted in for the membership plan
Brigit APR estimate
If you borrow $50 for two weeks and pay the $9.99 monthly fee and $1 for an instant transfer, you’ll pay the equivalent of a 537% annual percentage rate.
If you borrow the full $250 and pay the same $11 in fees, the APR equivalent is 114%.
READ MORE: Apps like Brigit
Brigit’s key features
- Free subscription includes basic financial features
- Offers interest-free cash advances
- Credit-builder tools
- Bank balance monitoring and real-time alerts
- Budgeting help
- Financial advice
- Overdraft protection
Pros and cons of Brigit
Pros
- Basic services are free
- No tips are requested
- The app is easy to use and available for Android and iPhone (ios)
- Minimal personal information is required to set up an account
- Brigit offers some unique services, including help finding part-time work
Cons
- You must pay for a membership to get a cash advance (though you can find out whether you qualify for an advance before you sign up for the “Plus” plan)
- The amount of cash you can borrow is determined by your Brigit score and cannot be adjusted
- You won’t know how much you can borrow until you’ve set up an account and provided your banking information
- The “Plus” plan costs $9.99 per month
- Credit-builder loans are provided by Brigit and its bank partner, Coastal Community Bank, Member FDIC.
- Eligibility requirements are a little steep — you must keep a positive balance and have sizeable deposits from an employer. If you’re working part-time and/or for minimum wage, you likely won’t bring in big enough deposits to qualify for an advance
Brigit’s requirements
Brigit doesn’t run a credit check. Once your bank account is connected and you’ve signed up for a “Plus” membership, you can apply for your cash advance. To qualify for a cash advance, you need to have the following:
- A bank account in good standing
- Deposits totaling at least $1,500 per month
- Deposits of at least $400 each
- Deposits from an employer (Brigit does not recognize PayPal deposits)
Pro tip: ATM deposits, paper checks, cash transfers and paychecks with irregular pay schedules do not qualify.
The app will analyze your banking history to determine if you qualify for an advance and, if so, how much to lend you.
Note that cash advances are not guaranteed for subscribers. It’s possible that you could pay the initial monthly fee and find out you’re not eligible for cash advances.
The Brigit experience
When you download the app, you’ll need to sign up for an account. To do this, you’ll give the app your email address and phone number and complete the verification process. Then, you’ll choose a mobile PIN. After that, you’ll be asked why you’re signing up for Brigit. You’ll be given a choice between getting a cash advance or building your credit.
How long does it take to get an advance from Brigit?
Brigit makes it clear that it can take up to three days for your cash advance to become your bank account. Other apps offer immediate funding in exchange for a small fee. Usually, 1-2 days is the norm because that’s how long it takes the Automated Clearing House (ACH) to process the transaction.
Is Brigit legitimate?
Brigit is a legitimate fintech company that’s based in New York, NY. It was established in 2019.
Is Brigit secure?
Yes, Brigit secures your data with 256-bit encryption.There have been no reports of Brigit data breaches.
Does Brigit use Plaid?
Brigit uses Plaid to connect your bank accounts. Plaid is a service that securely connects your bank accounts to various apps. 12,000+ banking institutions around the world use it. Unfortunately, not all financial institutions are compatible with Plaid. Chase, Capital One, and PNC are among the major banks that don’t work with Plaid. If you bank through one of these, you will have to switch banks in order to use Brigit.
How to cancel Brigit
To cancel a free Brigit account, you’ll need to:
- Log in to your Brigit account
- Go to settings
- Tap ‘Delete My Account’
- Confirm you want to delete your account
If you’re paying for a monthly subscription, you will need to completely delete your account in order to stop the monthly charge.
How to delete an account with a paid subscription:
- Log in to your Brigit account
- Go to settings
- Tap ‘Your membership’
- Tap ‘Switch to this plan’ (Free plan)
- Select ‘Pause or switch plan’
- Select ‘Switch to the free plan’
- Select a reason for leaving
- Tap ‘Submit and switch to free’
- Go back to settings
- Select ‘Delete My Account’
- Confirm that you want to delete your account
How to withdraw money from your Brigit account
Brigit doesn’t offer traditional savings accounts, but they offer an account designed to help you build credit that’s known as a credit-builder loan. These help you build credit because you’re making a small payment to Brigit each month for a year. When that year is up, you can transfer that money to the bank account that’s linked to your Brigit account and spend it however you like.
FTC settlement
On November 2, 2023, the FTC announced that it had taken action against Brigit, alleging that the company made cancelling a paid subscription exceptionally difficult and called the company’s promises of free “instant” cash advances of up to $250 deceptive
Brigit agreed to settle the FTC’s charges. This led to a proposed court order that requires the company to pay customers $18 million in refunds, stop its deceptive marketing promises and simplify the cancellation process.
A federal judge must approve the proposed settlement order. The money would be used to refund Brigit customers.
“Brigit trapped those consumers least able to afford it into monthly membership plans they struggled to escape from,” said Sam Levine, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Companies that offer cash advances and other alternative financial products have to play by the same rules as other businesses or face potential action by the FTC.”
READ MORE: Best cash advance apps
Customer ratings
- BBB accredited? No
- BBB rating: Not rated
- BBB customer reviews: 1.22 of five stars
- Apple Store score: 4.8 out of five with more than 260,000 reviews
- Google Play score: 4.7 out of five stars in more than 162,000 reviews
Customer opinions
Customer reviews are very mixed with many complaining about lack of customer support and difficulties closing accounts.
Most helpful reviews
From the Better Business Bureau:
Note: Since this review was posted, the Brigit monthly fee for the Plus plan has increased to $9.99 per month.
From Apple’s App Store:
From the Google Play Store:
At a glance: Brigit vs payday loans
| Brigit | Payday loan |
| Maximum advance of $250 | Typically as high as $1,000 |
| Up to three business days unless you pay an additional fee | Usually next business day |
| App requires a linked bank account and a history of direct deposits | Usually, the next business day |
| Fees range from $15 to $25 for each $100 borrowed | The simple application usually requires a Social Security number and banking information or a postdated check. |
| Cash advances aren’t available to residents of all 50 states* | Not available in states where payday loans are illegal |
The bottom line
Everybody needs help eventually. When you need financial help, a cash advance app can help keep you afloat until your next payday. Remember, though: these are meant to be bandages, not sutures. They are a temporary solution, not a permanent one.
FAQs
Brigit was founded by Hamel Kothari and Zuben Matthews in 2017. By 2021 the app had a quarter of a million paying users, co-founder Hamel Kothari has made it onto the Forbes 30 under 30 list, and co-founder Zuben Matthews had been awarded the EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2021 New York Award.
For the fastest response, chat with Brigit’s bot, Jess.
If the bot can’t help with your issue, you’ll be routed to chat with customer support and receive a response within 24 hours.
Other apps that will loan you some quick money (but don’t charge interest) include Dave, Brigit, MoneyLion, Earnin, Cleo, Empower and Chime. Learn more about these apps here.
