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When your bank balance is low and it’s still a couple of days until payday, an extra $100 can always come in handy. Dozens of apps provide you with a quick cash advance, but many of them make you wade through a supermarket of financial services that you don’t want or need.
The Floatme app keeps things simple with a no-nonsense approach that gets you straight to what you need. But is less really more when it comes to a money app or will FloatMe float a little too short of meeting your needs?
Let’s dive into the details in our FloatMe review.
How do you qualify for a FloatMe cash advance?
To determine your eligibility and cash advance limit, FloatMe securely connects to your bank account via Plaid and analyzes your account balance and history, looking at your regular recurring paycheck deposits.
You’ll need a positive bank balance to qualify for a cash advance and at least three paycheck deposits of $150 minimum.
Payments from government benefits or gig work don’t count towards your FloatMe eligibility, so you may need to consider other cash advance apps for Uber drivers or Door Dashers if gig work is your primary source of income (Check out our list of cash advance apps for gig workers, too).
How much money can you borrow with FloatMe?
Your FloatMe advance limit will be just $10 – $20 to start. It can increase to $100 as you build up some history with FloatMe.
A positive repayment history on your Floats is key to increasing your Float limit, and factors like your average bank balance and a longer employment deposit history also help.
But is FloatMe as safe and clear as it seems?
Even though FloatMe sticks to most of the same security standards that similar apps follow to protect their user’s data, the company has been under some heat from the FTC due to “deceptive promises and baseless claims.”
According to the FTC, the company’s promises of “free $50 cash advances” were false, as most users wouldn’t get more than $20 instantly, and the turbo delivery fees weren’t being properly disclosed.
Furthermore, the FTC also charged the company for discriminating against users who received government assistance.
Lastly, FloatMe used to claim that they used an algorithm to determine users’ borrowing limits, but this was a false claim, as the qualifying process was largely manual and somewhat arbitrary.
The FTC’s settlement order was issued just in January of 2024 and forced FloatMe to pay $3 million in user reimbursements.
As of today, FloatMe is much clearer about its fees and conditions on its website and has changed some of its policies. Likewise, the criteria to increase the limits of your “floats” are much more clearly disclosed on their website: your income transaction history and your history with Floatme.
Instead of having two separate subscription models, the company now uses only one $3.99/month subscription, with higher borrowing limits and a fully disclosed pricing schedule for its turbo delivery fees.
>> Want a cheaper cash advance? Check out our list of apps that give you $100 in cash advances without credit checks.
How are FloatMe cash advances repaid?
The FloatMe app will automatically schedule repayment of your Float on the date of your next paycheck. Your advance is repaid in one lump sum, along with the Instant Float fee if you opted for express delivery (more details on that below).
There are no late fees or fees of any type besides the express delivery fee and no interest.
FloatMe does not offer flexibility in changing your repayment date. The app tries to avoid pushing your bank account into overdraft if it detects that you don’t have a sufficient balance, though FloatMe explicitly offers no warranties that an overdraft will not occur.
If you happen to fail to make a payment, don’t worry, as FloatMe won’t report you to any credit bureaus or use any type of debt collector. The app will just attempt to take the repayment up to two times.
The only consequence of not paying is that you won’t be able to take further cash advances or use FloatMe’s services until you pay.
How much does a FloatMe cash advance cost?
FloatMe has a straightforward fee structure. There is a $3.99 per month subscription fee (which kicks in after a seven-day free trial). There is no interest charged on Floats and FloatMe doesn’t ask for a tip.
When you request an advance, you can have it sent to your bank account within three business days for free. If you need your money faster, you can have it transferred within 8 minutes by paying an express delivery fee.
The payment schedule for express delivery fees for Floats is as follows:
| Float amount | Express fee |
| $10.00 | $3.00 |
| $20.00 | $4.00 |
| $30.00 | $5.00 |
| $40.00 | $5.00 |
| $50.00 | $5.00 |
| $75.00 | $6.00 |
| $100.00 | $7.00 |
To see how these costs fare compared to other apps like FloatMe, we used the price of $100 cash advances as a baseline.
If you borrow $100 from FloatMe, you’ll pay $7 plus the $3.99 monthly subscription (assuming you only make one advance through the month).
In this case, you’d end up paying a $10.99 total for the advance, which is nearly half of the $19.08 average that these types of apps charge according to our calculations.
Hence, FloatMe’s prices for its cash advances are not bad at all, especially if you make multiple advances throughout the month to make the most of your $3.99 subscription. Likewise, if you get higher advances at a time, you’ll pay a smaller percentage of the advance in fees (for example: the fee for a $100 advance is 7% of the advance, but for a $30 advance, it’s 16%).
Nonetheless, we still believe that the $3.99 subscription is a little steep when compared to an app like Dave, which has only a $1/month subscription, or apps like Earning and Varo, which have no subscription at all. These apps do have different requirements to qualify though.
FloatMe’s additional features
Aside from the “Floats” or cash advances, which are FloatMe’s main selling point, your $3.99/month subscription also lets you access FloatMe’s Personal Finance Management (PFM) services.
FloatMe’s PFM services are a suite of app functions that let you monitor and analyze your bank account movements to give you what they call a “Financial Forecast.”
The Financial Forecast predicts what your income will likely be in the following week and assesses it based on your spending habits. If your spending is increasing and your predicted income is not, the app might warn you about it.
The PFM services will also tell you about offers for financial products, tools, and opportunities that might allow you to increase your income.
While this is a very common feature in apps like FloatMe and might not make a huge difference for some, it’s still a nice perk to have.
Is the FloatMe app legit?
FloatMe was founded in 2020 and is based in Austin, Texas. The app has been downloaded over 1 million times and boasts over 100,000 ratings on the App Store (4.8 stars) and Google Play (4.5 stars). It ranks amongst the 100 most popular finance apps.
The company is backed by $49 million in investment from venture capital firms. FloatMe keeps your data safe with 256-bit data encryption, which is the same standard used by banks.
Your bank account is linked via the widely-used Plaid platform, which is made to give you transparency and easy control over what information and permissions are shared with the app.
Upon their sanction by the FTC just this year, FloatMe seems to have made efforts to improve its compliance regulation and its overall services to its users.
Furthermore, if user reviews on the App Store and Google Play Store are a good indicator, most users seem to be satisfied with FloatMe’s services, as the app boasts 4.8/5 and 4.5/5 ratings on each store, respectively.
Is the FloatMe app worth it?
The FloatMe app makes it easy to get an extra $100 when you need it, even if you have bad credit. It’s simple and has relatively low fees compared to your average cash advance app.
The app isn’t for everyone. The $3.99 monthly subscription fee is certainly reasonable, but it’ll only be truly worth it if you make multiple advances per month, and stick to the higher limit of $100.
Furthermore, FloatMe isn’t the friendliest of apps for gig workers and people under benefits (although this could’ve changed since the FTC’s charges).
As far as other features go, FloatMe’s PFM can offer you some good insight into your finances, but it will likely not be the point that gets you off the fence to pay that $3.99/month subscription.
If you don’t have a regular paycheck and want to get advances above $100, apps like MoneyLion and Dave are options to consider, as they could lend you as much as $500.
Watch our FloatMe cash advance app review
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Mitchel holds a Bachelors of Business Administration in Finance from The Goizeta School of Business at Emory University and a Masters of Business Administration from The Haas School of Business at The University of California.
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