4 Companies That Help You Get Your Paycheck Early

Financial emergencies have a habit of cropping up at the worst possible time — when you’re stuck in-between paychecks. Perhaps you need $250 for an emergency car repair, but you just paid rent and won’t have the funds until your next payday in two weeks. Normally, you might want to turn to a credit card or a payday loan, racking up onerous fees in the process.

What if you could get a portion of your next paycheck early without paying hefty fees or interest?

That’s the premise behind the following four services. They try to help workers make ends meet without taking on debt by giving them access to the money they earn when they earn it.

How it works: In order to use Earnin, you need to upload your timesheet, either manually or by connecting a time-tracking account to the app (your employer must use one of the eligible timesheet partners in order for this to work). Using this information, Earnin estimates your average take-home hourly rate after taxes and deductions.

As you work, the hours will be automatically shared with Earnin, or you may have to upload your timesheet. You can then cash out a portion of your earned pay before payday.

You can withdraw up to $100 each pay period. Based on your account balances and Activehours use, the pay-period maximum could increase up to $500. The payment will arrive in your checking account within a few seconds, or within one business day, depending on where you bank.

DailyPay charges a fee of $1.25 for every transfer that you make, with the funds being delivered the next business day. If you need your money before tomorrow, you can do an instant transfer that has a fee of $2.99.

Once your employer offers PayActiv, you sign up and withdraw money as soon as you earn it. You can withdraw up to 50% of your earned income during each pay period via an electronic transfer or withdrawal from a PayActiv ATM (available at some employers’ offices).

The early payment comes from PayActiv, but it isn’t a loan and you won’t need to pay interest. Instead, your employer will automatically send PayActiv an equivalent amount from your next paycheck.

There is $5 fee per pay period when you use the service, although some employers cover a portion of the fee, according to Safwan Shah, PayActive’s founder. As a member, you’ll also get free access to bill payment services and savings and budgeting tools.

With FlexWage, the employer determines how often you can make early withdrawals and the maximum amount you can withdraw. Unlike PayActiv, FlexWage doesn’t act as a middle-man. Your paycheck advances will come directly from your employer’s account.

While cash advance apps can help when you are in a small pinch, they often cannot help when you have a larger expense that needs to be paid quickly. They can also cause short-term financial troubles, since the amount of your advance is going to be subtracted from your next paycheck, simply delaying your financial troubles.

If you need more money and want to have more time to pay off your loan, you might want to take a look at getting a personal loan. Personal loans often come with fixed interest rates and fixed loan amounts that are paid out over a specific period of time. Money is deposited directly into your bank account and some lenders can get you your funds the same day that you apply.

Want to compare multiple personal loan offers from a variety of personal loan lenders? Check out LendingTree, our parent company, where you can easily compare personal loan offers and find the best rate on your loan.

Terms24 to 60months

These four companies work slightly differently, but they share the same basic premise: giving you early access to the money you earned, without saddling you with a painful assortment of fees. If you’ve had to rely on borrowing money in the past when funds are tight, these could be a better alternative to credit cards or payday loans.