Cash Advance Apps That Work With Varo (Quick Guide)

Varo offers a cash advance of up to $100, but you have to jump through a few hoops to get more than $20 advanced. Your account has to be older than a month and active, and you must have direct deposits of at least $1,000 in the last 30 days. 

New Varo users and people who can’t qualify for their advance as well as people who need more than a hundred dollars spotted will have to look at alternative cash advance apps that can connect to their Varo account. 

So, we went out and found the best cash advance apps and payday loans apps that work with Varo. Here’s the breakdown. 

Chime 

• Cash advance from $20 – $200
• Credit Builder Program
• No fees
• Get paid early
• 60,000+ free ATMs
• Automatic savings

First up is Chime that offers overdrafts of up to $200 without fees. Their cash advance service is called SpotMe and starts at $20. To qualify for even that base amount of $20, you have to satisfy more than a couple of factors. 

To get initial access to SpotMe, you have to have received a single direct deposit of at least $200 to your Chime account. To continue using the cash advance, you have to have a $200 deposit each month. 

Deposits need to come from an employer, payroll provider, government benefits, or a gig economy payer (Uber, Upwork, DoorDash…) and be deposited into your SAVINGS account via ACH or OCT. 

You can use advanced cash for debit card transactions and purchases as well as cash withdrawals. You can’t use the money to transfer to friends, make ACH transfers, or Checkbook transactions. 

How to increase the Chime SpotMe limit?

There isn’t a guarantee that you’ll ever be able to get a higher SpotMe limit. Chime decides this based on factors such as how long you’re with Chime, how often your direct deposits are and how much, as well as how often you use their debit card and other risk-related factors. 

READ ALSO: Payday Loans Apps That Accept Chime

Cleo

• $20-$100 cash advance
• No interest to pay
• Payback anytime within 3 and 28 days
• $5.99 per month fee
• Budgeting and savings
• Autosave feature

Cleo is a new kind of financial assistant designed for Gen Z that helps you save and budget and get a cash advance of up to $100 if you qualify. Cleo connects to most banks and their extensive list includes traditional banks in the US and the UK such as Chime, Varo, Chase, Barclays, HSBC, etc.

To qualify for Cleo’s cash advance, you’ll have to sign up for their premium account called Cleo Plus that costs $5.99 per month. You’ll naturally need to set up your Cleo wallet and connect a debit card. You can get a cash advance between $20 and $100 in your account. 

To get the salary or cash advance the same day, you’ll have to pay a charge of $3.99, or you can get the advance for free in up to four days. You must pay your advance back in total in order to take out a new one. You can repay Cleo at anytime between 3 and 28 days. It’s your choice. 

How to qualify for Cleo Salary Advance?

Cleo will look at your spending habits, cash withdrawals, missed payments (if you have any), and other good, but also bad spending practices. All of those circumstances perform a role in the decision to be able to use Cleo’s cash advance and how much.

How do you know if you’re eligible? Speak “Salary Advance” or “spot me” to Cleo in messenger and then hit the button that says ‘Spot me 🚀’. The app will tell you if qualify for an advance. If you don’t qualify, Cleo will instruct you on how to qualify.

Can you get more than $100 from Cleo at a time?

Unfortunately, Cleo only spots up to $100 at a time and you have to repay the amount in full before you can get another advance. They say that they’ve designed the service to be a parachute and not as something you’d rely upon or use all the time. 

Dave

• $100 – $250 cash advance
• Build your credit history
• Early payday
• No fees or interest
• No credit history check
• FDIC insured

It’s fairly easy to get a cash advance from Dave. You can get up to $200 if you set up a direct deposit or link to an outside bank account like Varo to get up to a $100 advance. 

Recently, Dave has started giving out advances of $250 for people that have a recurring income of $1,000+ per month in Dave’s spending account or an external account. The size of the advance will further depend on:

1. The size of your anticipated income
2. History of all your deposits and transactions in the past 60 days
3. Whether you’ve paid back previous advances on time
4. How much money you keep in your Dave account
5. Any negative balances in your account recently

Plus, you’ll need to receive at least two qualifying direct deposits in order to request an advance.

How to request a Dave cash advance

Here’s the breakdown:

1. Tap the ‘Advances’ tab
2. Tap ‘Get cash now’
3. Choose the amount of the cash advance
4. Confirm your automatic payback period
5. Check the following on the ‘Confirm Advance’ screen:
   1. Amount of the advance
   2. Amount of the tip
   3. Delivery option:
      1. Standard is free and takes 3 business days
      2. Instant has a small fee  and arrives in seconds or up to 8 hours
   4. Last four digits of your debit card or account
   5. The total number and the expected date
6. Check the box to consent to the payment permission
7. Slide to verify
8. Leave an optional tip to Dave

How to connect Varo to Dave?

1. Go to the ‘Profile’ tab
2. Choose ‘Linked Banks and Card’
3. Tap Change’ 
4. Select ‘Change bank’ 
5. Find Varo on the list
6. Use your Varo Bank login credentials
7. Answer security questions if asked

Albert 

• Up to $250 cash advance
• No interest or hidden fees
• Early paycheck
• Investing
• Budgeting and saving

Albert is another banking, investing, and savings financial app that can connect to your Varo account and can give you a $250 cash advance. 

Similar to other cash advance apps, you can get your money instantly or wait for it for a couple of days. If you’re in a hurry you’ll have to pay $4.99 for an instant transfer. Or alternatively, you’ll have to wait for the payment for three business days. 

To get the Albert Instant, you’ll need to satisfy the following criteria:

1. You have received income from the same employer in the last two months
2. Your salary was on time and you didn’t spend it in the following 24 hours
3. Your linked bank account is older than two months and doesn’t have a negative balance
4. Your linked bank account is receiving income via direct deposit

How to request Albert’s advance cash?

It’s easy to ask for the allowance, go to the home screen, and choose “Instant”. If you don’t have an account yet, set it up. Once you’ve been approved, select an amount and delivery method. 

Albert is basically giving you an early paycheck so as long as you have a paycheck and have repaid all your past loans, you can ask for up to three cash advances per pay interval.

To repay the advance, do it manually or have it done automatically on your next payday. 

How to connect Varo to Albert?

To connect the two:

1. Navigate to the Budget Overview tab
2. Tap + at the top of the screen 
3. Select Varo, or search for it if isn’t listed
4. Enter Varo’s account login information

If you can’t find Varo there, you can add it manually as well.

MoneyLion 

• Up to $1,000 cash advance
• No interest or late fees
• No credit history check
• Early payday
• Credit Building Program
• Cashback rewards

MoneyLion gives cash advances of up to $1,000. But, typically it’s up to 15% of your expected recurring direct deposit, or up to $250. If MoneyLion can’t discover any recurring income, you’ll only have access to a more moderate amount, with a minimum of $25.  

The good news is that you can unlock much higher advances by:

• placing direct deposits into a RoarMoney account, 
• signing up for a Credit Builder Plus membership, 
• by completing certain tasks in your MoneyLion App to qualify for Boosts.

In this situation, your Instacash advance will be up to 30% of your recurring deposit or up to a maximum of $1,000.

To request advances, tap the ‘Accounts’ tab in the MoneyLion app. You can find out in seconds if you qualify and how much you can get. To go forth with the advance request, tap the ‘Request’ button and select the amount. 

Next, you can choose to leave a tip and how fast you want the money in your account. Expedited delivery will cost you $3.99. Otherwise, the delivery is free and can take one to two days.

To qualify for a cash advance, your checking account must meet the following: 

1. Your account has to be open for at least two months
2. You get regular deposits of income or paychecks 
3. It doesn’t have a negative balance
4. The account is active

Alternatively, you can also qualify for Instacash advances by opening a RoarMoney account.

To link your Varo account to MoneyLion, click “Add account” on the ‘Transfers’ screen.  You can also link an account using the ‘More Options’ menu from the ‘Finances’ tab.

Read more in our full MoneyLion review

Empower

• Cash advances up to $250
• No interest or late fees
• No impact on credit score
• Early paycheck
• Up to 10% cashback

Empower has up to four lines of cash advances. They range from $25 to $250. 

Each tier of cash advance has its own requirements. Let’s see what they are.

Base offer ($25)

To get the Base cash advance of up to $25, you have to fulfill the following:

• Monthly take-home income on average $500+
• In each of the last three months, two deposits of $100+ 
• Maintain over $100 balance for 10 days
• A “healthy” Current account balance

Recurring paycheck ($50)

The $50 cash advance has even more requirements:

• Account needs to be active in the last 60 days
• At least two transactions per day on average
• A “healthy” Current account balance
• Three recent recurring deposits of $200+ from the same employer
• The monthly take-home income must be $500+ on average
• The account balance must be $50+ up to two days after the pay date

Paycheck at Empower ($100)

To qualify for the Empower $100 cash advance, you need a Direct deposit of paycheck to be at least $200 in the last 14 days or at least $500 in the last 30 days into your Empower account. 

Repayment history ($250)

For the top cash advance of $250, you’ll need:

• Three or more cash advances admitted and compensated through the Empower card over three pay periods
• Three recent recurring deposits of $200 or more from the same employer

To find out whether or not you’ve qualified, you can simply tap on “Check eligibility now”. Each thing under “Qualifications” shows whether you are eligible for that offer or not.

How to connect Varo and Empower?

Go to the Home page of your app and scroll down to the Accounts segment and tap on the ‘plus’ icon in the upper right. Empower uses Plaid to link all external accounts.

Does Earnin work with Varo?

Earnin doesn’t work with Varo and has an extensive list of other banks and financial apps it doesn’t work with. Some of them include Dave, Oxygen, Paypal, Revolut, Square, Wise, and unfortunately Varo. 

Does Brigit work with Varo?

Brigit doesn’t work with Varo, Capital One, Net Spend, and Chime due to issues with maintaining connectivity. Connectivity is important for bringing full functionality to the app. 

The Bottom Line

If you ever need a couple of hundred bucks to help you get through the week, you’ll be happy to know that there are many viable options of cash advance and payday loan apps on the market. 

By using one or more of the financial apps on our list, you can get a short-term boost to your bottom line, without incurring any interest. Still, It’s best not to rely on these kinds of apps for a longer period of time as they were designed to be used in emergencies and not as a day to day financing.

Some of the cash advance apps that work with Varo still have many requirements and are more or less useful in a pinch.