Brigit Review 2024: Loans Up to $250, But There’s A Catch

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  Brigit

  • Best For: People who need loans and budgeting tools.
    
  • Pros: Brigit doesn’t charge interest on their loans, and they don’t have a minimum credit score requirement.
    
  • Cons: A “Plus” plan is required for most of Brigit’s features, which costs $9.99 per month.
  APR 10/10

   

  Fees 6/10

   

  Transparency 8/10

   

  Flexibility 8/10

   

  Funding Speed 5/10

   

  Accessibility 7/10

   
  • APR

    0%

  • MINIMUM CREDIT

    N/A

  • TERMS

    Assigned upon distribution of funds

  • ORIGINATION FEE

    $9.99 / Month

A host of new companies are now offering small loans without any interest charges, as an alternative to high-interest payday loans.

Brigit is one of these. But is their monthly-fee model really an improvement over traditional payday loan terms?

What Is Brigit?

Brigit is a web and app-based payday loan service that offers its users cash advances in exchange for a monthly fee of $9.99.

They also offer users a credit building program, identity theft protection, overdraft protection, and personal finance insights.

According to Brigit, their mission is to help everyday Americans build a brighter financial future.

How Brigit Works

With Brigit, users can borrow up to $250 in seconds for any reason.

When borrowing through Brigit, they won’t charge you interest, check your credit, or hit you with hidden fees.

They also have technology that works behind the scenes to help you avoid overdrafts, budget your money, and build your credit.

Overdraft Protection

Since their infrastructure is tied to your bank account, they use your bank data to predict when you’re likely to overdraw your account.

When Brigit detects a high likelihood of an overdraft, it can automatically add funds to your account, so you can avoid paying costly overdraft fees.

Budgeting Tools

After pairing with your bank account, Brigit provides basic budgeting tools to help you understand how you’re spending your money.

These tools are available to anyone with a free plan.

Credit Builder

You can also set up a “Credit Builder” account, which allows users to build their credit through a 12-month loan taken out in the user’s name by Brigit.

During the term of this loan, Brigit holds onto the funds and makes payments on the loan every month.

Each month, the borrower chooses an amount of money they put toward the loan (out of their own pocket), and at the end of the 12 month period, the borrower should (in theory) have seen a drastic improvement to their credit score.

If there are any excess funds from borrower contributions, they are then returned to the borrower.

According to Brigit, some users have had their score increase by as much as 60 points.

Here are some ideas for how to improve your credit score without paying any monthly fee.

Brigit At a Glance

Now that we’ve rated Brigit, let’s take a deep dive into each category, and explain why we’ve given them each particular score.

APR

We’ve given them a 10/10 in the APR category because they simply don’t charge interest on the money that you borrow.

Most payday loan services charge exorbitantly high interest rates, so it’s refreshing to see a service that doesn’t charge interest at all.

Although they don’t charge interest on their loans, the monthly subscription fee can really be expensive if borrowers don’t rely on Brigit very often, but we’ll speak about that more in the next section.

Fees

Although Brigit got a great score when it comes to APR, the fees that they charge are a different story.

They say that they don’t charge any hidden fees, or ask for any tips. (Probably a reference to Earnin, a similar company that generates revenue through tips.)

While that is technically true, you do have to be a “Plus” member to take out a loan with Brigit.

The membership costs $9.99 per month, and you cannot unsubscribe while there’s a balance on your loan.

The monthly fee that they require can make a Brigit loan either a terrific deal or a terrible one.

Let’s see how the effective interest rate of a Brigit loan could change depending on how often you use the service, or how long you take to pay back the loan.

Someone who uses Brigit’s service only briefly, or who borrows every month, will be paying a much lower fee (as a percentage) than someone who only uses it once per year.

And if you pay for Brigit Plus for an entire year (nearly $120), and only borrow $250 from them — or wait 12 months before paying the loan — then you’re effectively paying a 48% fee on the money that you borrowed!

In that case, it would be much cheaper to have gotten a loan from pretty much anywhere else.

To be fair, Brigit does offer other services with the membership, but some of these services are easy to find elsewhere, like free budgeting and spend tracking apps.

Transparency

Brigit got an 8/10 score for transparency because they really are quite transparent.

They have an extensive FAQ section that has answered practically every question imaginable.

One area we really wish they would have been more transparent on is the fee dilemma that we’ve outlined above.

Borrowers should be made aware of the effective fee that they’re being charged on the money that they borrow.

As we outlined above, if you’re not borrowing with Brigit very often, the subscription fees can represent a huge percentage of the money that you borrow.

Flexibility

We gave Brigit a 7/10 score for their flexibility because they don’t openly disclose the loan terms they offer on their website.

According to their FAQ section, they assign the loan’s due date when you request the funds.

While payday loans typically have a term of just a week or two, a bit more clarity would be nice.

Aside from the fogginess around their loan terms, they do have a great program for requesting due date extensions.

Since they give borrowers an “extension credit” each time they make two consecutive on-time payments, they incentivize users to practice good financial habits.

Funding Speed

Brigit got a 5/10 in the funding speed category because their funding speeds are just… average.

With a Brigit loan, you will receive your funds within 1-2 business days.

While 1-2 days isn’t slow by any means, it isn’t particularly quick either.

There are other payday loan companies that can get borrowers funding much faster than Brigit (however, their interest rate is likely higher).

Getting a loan on the same day would likely require a borrower to go somewhere in person though, which is an area of service not offered by Brigit.

Accessibility

Brigit earned a 7/10 in the accessibility category because they alienate anyone who doesn’t have a normal job with a recurring paycheck.

One of Brigit’s requirements is that the borrower needs to receive a regular, recurring paycheck from their employer.

Brigit Qualification Requirements

This automatically disqualifies anyone who is self-employed or works in the gig economy.

This means that business owners, rideshare drivers, app-based delivery drivers, and full-time freelancers are ineligible for Brigit loans.

In today’s day and age, the freelance/gig economy is exploding.

There are countless people working for themselves that might not receive a steady paycheck from an employer, and Brigit makes it impossible for those people to get a loan through them.

Other Features

Although we didn’t give Brigit’s other features a rating above, we’re giving them a 9/10. Brigit’s Credit Builder Loan is a unique program that helps its users build their credit.

They also offer helpful information on personal finance and budgeting, and they even help users make extra money on the side through their partnerships with companies operating in the gig space.

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APR

$9.99 monthly fee

Maximum Loan

$250

Minimum Credit

No credit check

Brigit Pros and Cons

Brigit provides easy access to cash and doesn’t charge interest, but the loans are small and the monthly membership fee can add up.

Brigit Pros

Brigit Cons

How to Apply at Brigit (Step-by-Step)

These are the basic steps you’d go through to set up a Brigit account.

Step 1: Basic Info and Validation

Enter your email and phone number. A verification code will be sent to your phone, which you’ll need to enter into the app.

Step Two: PIN Number

You’ll be prompted to create a four-digit PIN.

Step Three: Personal Information

Tell Brigit your first and last name.

Step Four: Bank Account Requirements

Brigit will ask you to confirm that you meet minimum requirements for their service.

As of November 2021, your bank account must be at least two months old, you must get paid regularly, and you must earn more than $500/month.

These are not the only requirements but they are the basic requirements for linking your account.

Step Five: Bank Account Verification

Brigit connects to your bank account through Plaid, a company that specializes in connecting apps to bank accounts.

Step Six: Borrow Up to $250

Once you’re verified to be eligible, you can borrow up to $250.

I found that signing up for Brigit is both simple and easy. It only takes a few minutes to go through the signup process.

Brigit Consumer Reviews

Everything with Brigit seems solid on paper.

They have an extensive FAQ section to answer customer questions, and their service connects with trusted services like Plaid.

Still, it’s important to take a look at what people who use the product are actually saying.

To get an idea of how people feel about Brigit, we’ll take a look at their Better Business Bureau profile, as well as user reviews.

Better Business Bureau Reviews

Brigit is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau, however, they do have a “B” rating, which is a fairly solid rating.

If you’re not familiar with the process that the Better Business Bureau uses to rate companies, we’ve outlined some important metrics below:

• A BBB rating represents their own opinion of how likely a business is to interact with their prospective customers.
• Their ratings go from A+ on the high end, to an F on the low end

When rating a company, the BBB will usually provide reasoning behind the rating that they gave.

The reason that Brigit received a B rating is that, as of November 2021, they have 79 complaints filed against them since they opened 3 years ago.

The BBB site also allows customers to leave reviews of companies.

In the case of Brigit, their users were not very happy.

When it comes to user ratings on the BBB site, Brigit has ten user reviews.

Overall, the users rated Brigit 1.6 stars, out of a possible 5, a dismal rating to say the least.

User Reviews

Brigit Frequently Asked Questions

• Will applying for Brigit affect my credit score?

  Requesting a loan from Brigit will not affect your credit score. They do not pull a hard inquiry when you request a loan, so there are no dings to your credit.

• Is there a minimum credit score requirement with Brigit?

  Brigit does not have any credit score requirements to obtain a loan with them. They do, however, have certain banking requirements that we discuss under the “How can I qualify for Brigit?” section.

• Can I build my credit with Brigit?

  Paying off your Brigit advances on time, and in full will help you build your credit score over time.

  This is because they report your borrowing behavior to the major credit bureaus.

  They also have a helpful Credit Builder loan program, that they claim can help increase your credit by as much as 60 points in just 3 months.

• How do I pay Brigit back?

  When using Brigit, you don’t have to worry about remembering to make a payment on time.

  Brigit will automatically withdraw the money you borrowed on your repayment date.

  Your repayment date can be found at any time via the app, and Brigit will remind you 2 business days before they withdraw the payment from your account.

  You can also request to extend your due date or repay Brigit early through the app if you would like.

• Can I change my due date on Brigit?

  It is possible to change your due date on Brigit, however, they don’t allow you to do this all the time.

  Upon opening your account, you’re given one “extension credit” that allows you to push your repayment date off to a later date.

  Although you’re only given one extension credit to start off with, Brigit does offer opportunities to earn more credits.

  In fact, for every two consecutive on-time payments you make, you will earn one extension credit, and they allow you to save up a maximum of three credits at a time.

Brigit offers low-hassle loans for employed people who need a small amount of cash to cover bills. They don’t charge interest, but you must pay a $9.99/month membership fee to get a loan.

3.5/5 Rating

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