6 Cash Advance Apps That Accept Chime (2023)

July 11, 2023

Although Chime offers a cash advance of up to $200, it starts with only a $20 advance or overdraft. Until you’ve built up your Chime account history to get more cash, what are other cash advance apps and payday loans that work with Chime?

The following financial apps can be connected to Chime and offer advances you can transfer to Chime. But to get it, sometimes you must have a direct deposit coming in.

Here is the list of cash advance apps that work with Chime:

Dave
Cleo
Albert
Empower
MoneyLion
Varo

The good news is that cash advance apps offer more than just that; some of them are similar to Chime in their features. But mostly, they’re a simpler version.

Also, I it’s important to note that these three popular cash advance apps DON’T work with Chime:

Earnin
Brigit
Grid

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Cash Advance Apps That Work with Chime

I’ve put seven cash advance apps that work with Chime on my list.

All of them work with Chime. I’ve also selected the best ones, which are useful for other purposes too.

Dave: Does It Work With Chime?

Advance up to $500 on your next paycheck
Connects to Chime
No interest
No credit check
Side gigs
FDIC insured

To get a cash advance from Dave, you either have to set up a direct deposit to get up to $500 or link an external bank account (Chime works) with a history of direct deposits. The size of the advance will also depend on:

Your anticipated income
History of your deposits and transactions (at least 60 days)
If you’ve paid back previous advances on time
How much money do you generally keep in your account
If you’ve recently had a negative balance in your account

You’ll also want to make sure you have received at least two qualifying direct deposits in order to request an advance.

Step-by-step on how to request an advance

Here’s the breakdown:

Go to the ‘Advances’ tab
Tap ‘Get cash now’
Select the amount to advance
Confirm your auto-payback date
On the Confirm Advance screen, be sure to check the following:
1. Advance amount
2. Tip amount
3. Select a delivery option
  1. Standard – Free – 3 business days
  2. Instant – Small Fee – Arrives in seconds up to 8 hours
4. Last 4 numbers of debit card or account
5. The total amount and the due date
Check the box to agree to the payment authorization
Slide to confirm

How to connect Chime to Dave?

Go to the Profile tab
Choose Linked Banks and Card
Tap Change next to Linked Banks
Select Change bank and Continue through

Below are more apps like Dave that work with Chime.

Albert: Does It Work With Chime?

Up to $250 cash advance
No interest
Early payday
Investing
Budgeting
Saving

Albert is also a banking, investing, and saving app that connects to Chime and can net you a $250 cash advance.

Like other cash advance apps, you can get your cash instantly, but you have to pay for it ($4.99). Or you can get the money within three business days for free.

To qualify for Albert advance, you need to have:

a job and receive verifiable income via direct deposit
an income that’s consistent over the past two months and arrives on a predictable pay schedule (once monthly, bi-weekly, weekly, etc.)
a current bank account balance that’s above $0

To ask for the advance, go to the app’s home screen and tap “Instant.” Follow the prompts to set up your account. Once you’ve been approved to advance cash, you can select an amount and delivery method.

As long as you have a paycheck and have repaid your past advances, you can request up to 3 cash advances per pay period.

You can repay the advance manually, or it will be done automatically on your next payday.

How to connect Chime to Albert?

To connect the two:

Navigate to the Budget tab
Tap + at the top of the screen
Select Chime, or search for it by name if it’s not listed
Enter Chime’s account credentials on the following screen

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

Cleo: Does It Work With Chime?

$20-$100 advance
No interest
Pay back anytime between 3 and 28 days
$5.99 per month
Budgeting
Autosave

Cleo is a saving and budgeting financial app that can also spot you up to $100 if you qualify. It also connects seamlessly to your Chime account.

To qualify for an advance, you have to sign up for Cleo Plus ($5.99/m), set up your Cleo wallet, and connect a debit card. You can get between $20 and $100 in your account.

To get it that same day, you’ll have to shell out $3.99, or you can get it for free in up to four days. You also have to pay your advance back in total before you take out a new one. And you can repay anytime between 3 and 28 days.

How to qualify for Cleo advance?

The app looks at your spending habits, cash withdrawals, missed payments, and other good and bad spending habits. All of this will affect if you can get the advance and how much.

Say “Salary Advance” or “spot me” to Cleo in messenger, then hit the button that says ‘Spot me 🚀’, and you’ll know if you qualify for an advance. If you don’t qualify, Cleo will coach you toward qualifying.

Cleo supports all the major US and UK banks, and Chime is one of them.

Empower: Does It Work With Chime?

Up to $250 cash advance
No interest
No late fees
Doesn’t affect credit score
Early payday
Up to 10% cashback

Empower offers four tiers of cash advances. From $25 to $250 cash advance. Let’s break down what the qualifications are for each of the four tiers.

Base offer ($25)

Average monthly take home income $500+
2 deposits of at least $100 in each of last three months
Maintain over $100 balance for 10 days
Current account balance must be “healthy”

Recurring paycheck ($50)

Cash Advance account must have been active for at least 60 days
Account must average at least 2 transactions per day
Current account balance must be “healthy”
Must have three recent, recurring deposits of $200 or more from same employer
Average monthly take home income must be $500+
Maintain an account balance of at least $50 up to two days after pay date

Paycheck at Empower ($100)

Direct deposit of paycheck of at least $200 in the last 14 days or at least $500 in the last 30 days into your Empower account

Repayment history ($250)

At least 3 Cash Advances accepted & repaid through Empower Card over three pay cycles
Must have three recent, recurring deposits of $200+ from same employer

You can check to see whether or not you’re qualified when you tap on “Check eligibility now.” Each item under “Qualifications” shows whether you are qualified for that offer or not.

How to connect Chime to Empower?

Go to the Home page of your app and scroll down to the Accounts section and click on the + icon on the upper right. Empower uses Plaid to link external accounts to Empower.

MoneyLion: Does It Work With Chime?

Up to $250 cash advance
No interest
No late fees
No credit check
Early payday
Much much more

MoneyLion’s cash advance is typically up to 15% of your anticipated recurring direct deposit amount, $250. If they can’t detect any recurring income, you’ll have access to a lower amount, with a minimum of $25.

You can unlock higher amounts by setting up direct deposits into a RoarMoneySM account, by signing up for a Credit Builder Plus membership, or by completing certain tasks in your MoneyLion App to qualify for Boosts. In this case, your cash advance will be up to 30% of your recurring deposit or up to a maximum of $1,000.

To request Instacash advances, tap Accounts on the Home screen of the MoneyLion App. You’ll find out in seconds if you qualify and how much you can get.

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

An account has to be open for at least two months
The account has your regular deposits of income/paychecks
It has a positive balance
It’s active

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

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

Varo: Does It Work With Chime?

Cash advance up to $100
$5 fee for $100 CA

Varo is at the bottom of this list because they charge up to $5 fee for taking out their max $100 cash advance. If you take out $75, the fee is $4, for $50, it’s $3, and $20 cash advance incurs no fees. But, they don’t charge a fee to get it instantly to your account like other fintechs do.

You’ll qualify for Varo’s cash advance if:

Your Varo Bank Account is active
Your Varo Bank Account and/or Savings Account isn’t negative
Your Varo Bank Account is at least 30 days old
You’ll need at least $1,000 in total qualifying direct deposits to either your Varo Bank Account or Savings Account, or both combined, within the last 31 calendar days

How to connect Chime to Varo?

To connect Chime to Varo account, do the following:

Tap “Link an Account +”
Select Chime or search for it if you don’t see an icon
If you see options when you select your bank, pick the one with the web address where you would normally log in online
Enter your user ID and password and tap “Submit”
Follow any prompts from Chime
Continue responding to prompts from Varo until you see your external accounts and balances show up on the Accounts

3 Popular Cash Advance Apps that Don’t Work with Chime

I was surprised to find that not all popular cash advance apps work with Chime. Here are some of the most popular cash advance apps that don’t work with Chime.

Earnin: Does It Work With Chime?

Up to $750 per pay period
No Interest
Overdraft protection

Earnin doesn’t work with Chime. At least, not for all Chime accounts.

Earnin is testing support for Chime users, but it’s currently only available to a select group of Chime accounts.

You can know if your Chime account can be supported by Earnin when you choose Chime from the bank selection list in the app. If Earnin is not able to support it, the app will show a message.

Brigit: Does It Work With Chime?

Cash Advance up to $250
Credit Builder
Financial insights
Side gigs

Brigit works with over 6,000 financial institutions but, for some reason, doesn’t support some of the most popular digital banking apps like Chime (as well as Netspend and Varo).

The company says it is because of connectivity issues, but I assume it may be another reason or even a business strategy?

Grid: Does It Work With Chime?

Up to $200 advances
Grid Card
Tax savings

Here the situation is similar to Brigit and Chime case.

Despite working with most of the banking institutions in the US, Grid doesn’t support digital banking apps such as Chime, Dave, Capital One, Varo, and a few others.

Why Do I Choose Cash Advance Apps instead of Payday Loans Apps?

When I need to use my Chime account to get fast cash on the same or the next day, I always use cash advance apps instead of payday loans. Why?

Cash advance apps and payday loan apps provide quick short-term loans, but there is a big difference.

Cash advance apps allow us to borrow a small amount against our future paycheck with no or low fees. Payday loan apps may offer to lend a higher amount, but usually, fees and interest are so much higher.

So, I love the advantage of using a cash advance app over a payday loan app because cash advances have a lower price than payday loans.

Additionally, good cash advance apps nowadays are digital banking accounts and are often good even for everyday banking.

Anyway, I don’t want to go blind with any of these apps just for the sake of getting quick cash. So whether it is a cash advance app or a payday loan app, I’ve to consider all the details carefully.