MoneyLion’s Instacash review: Cash advances up to $500 with no interest or credit check

When unplanned expenses appear, access to instant cash can be a lifesaver. Many turn to a cash advance from their credit card. It's a costly move, given the high interest rate you'll have to pay on top of the cash advance fee, which is typically 3% or 5%.

Fintech company MoneyLion® offers a way to get around those charges with its Instacash℠ feature, which lets users get cash advances of up to $500 with zero fees or interest.

Instacash is accessed through the MoneyLion app. You need to link an active checking account with recurring deposits that has been open for at least two months and has a positive balance.

There is no credit check so your credit won't be affected.

At first, users will be able to get a cash advance of $10 minimum — if MoneyLion can detect recurring deposits in one's linked checking account, these can be $50 and up to $500. MoneyLion Credit Builder Plus members can get up to $700 and those who switch their direct deposits into MoneyLion's checking account RoarMoney℠ can get up to $1,000.

You can get access to more money when your direct deposit amount increases, but your Instacash advance will never exceed 50% of your anticipated recurring direct deposit amount.

Being eligible for the maximum amount can take three to eight weeks.

Compare offers to find the right personal loan

To repay the Instacash advance, the money you borrowed will be automatically deducted (with zero interest) from your RoarMoney or external checking account on the due date determined by your recurring direct deposit cycle, which is usually in about two weeks.

If there is not enough cash in your checking account to cover what you owe, Instacash will only deduct a partial repayment and try again when you have a balance or when the next direct deposit hits. Users can also repay their cash advances manually in the MoneyLion app.

Once you repay your last cash advance, you can get another one as long as you still meet the eligibility requirements.

On top of there being no interest, there's also no monthly fee required to access Instacash advances — you could end up paying a fee if you need your funds super fast, however.

Standard regular delivery takes 12 to 48 hours for cash advance funds to be deposited into a MoneyLion RoarMoney account and three to five business days to appear in an external checking account. To otherwise get your funds almost immediately through MoneyLion's "turbo delivery," there is a fee ranging from $0.99 to $7.99, depending on the disbursement amount and whether the funds are going into a RoarMoney checking account or an external checking account.

While cash advances can be a useful way to access money quickly, you may need more than the $250 offered by MoneyLion. If you need a larger amount of money, consider a personal loan: You can get funded as quickly as the next day and have more time to repay the money.

You'll have to pay interest on a personal loan, though, and some banks charge origination and late-payment fees.

LightStream and Avant are among the best next-day funding options, with no fees and loan amounts up to $100,000.

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