Brigit's Cash Advance Has a Free Option. It's in a Footnote, and You Have to Email for It.

If you’re paying Brigit $8.99 to $15.99 a month to borrow against your paycheck, you may be paying for something the company will give you free. You just have to know to ask.

It’s in Brigit’s own fine print. A footnote on its homepage says: “To enroll in our free option, email terms1@hellobrigit.com and state that you would like an Advance without subscribing to one of our Membership plans.”

An email address. In a footnote. Not on the sign-up screen.

Maryland got $600,000. You got nothing.

Maryland’s attorney general just settled with Brigit for $600,000. The state’s Consumer Protection Division alleged the app engaged in unlicensed lending, didn’t clearly disclose the extra fees for instant access to cash, advertised advance amounts some people didn’t qualify for, and wouldn’t let customers with an unpaid advance cancel their subscription.

The money goes to the Consumer Protection Division. None of the public reports mention refunds.

Here’s the catch: the conduct ran from December 2019 to October 2023. The FTC already went after Brigit for nearly the same thing in November 2023. That case cost Brigit $18 million in refunds. The FTC said Brigit locked people into a $9.99 monthly plan they couldn’t cancel while an advance was still open. It also said Brigit promised “free instant transfers” and then started charging 99 cents a transfer.

“Brigit trapped those consumers least able to afford it into monthly membership plans they struggled to escape from,” Samuel Levine, then director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, said at the time.

So the fix Maryland ordered, cancel any time and show the fees, is the fix the FTC ordered three years ago.

What the subscription costs as a loan

Brigit says its average advance was $72 from February 2018 through July 2026. Its subscription runs $8.99 to $15.99 a month.

Say you take one average advance a month and repay it on payday, two weeks later. A $8.99 fee on $72 is 12.5% for two weeks. Annualized, that’s about 326% APR. At $15.99 it’s about 579%.

Brigit says it charges “no interest.” Technically true. The subscription does the interest’s job.

That’s dumb math if you only use the app for advances. If you actually use the budgeting and credit-building extras, it’s your call.

Do this now

Open the Brigit app and check which plan you’re on and what it has charged your bank account in the last three months.

If you only want advances, email terms1@hellobrigit.com. Ask, in those words, for “an Advance without subscribing to one of our Membership plans.” Then cancel the paid plan in the app. Keep the confirmation.

Skip Express Delivery unless the money truly can’t wait. Brigit says standard delivery takes two to three business days and is “always free.”

If you’re short every month, a fee-based app is a symptom, not a fix. Compare it with a credit union payday alternative loan, which comes with a federal price cap, and run the numbers in our loan calculator. More options on our loans hub and loan picks.

If you’re in Maryland, that state also banned tips on paycheck-advance apps as of October 1.

The fine print

Brigit’s footnotes say advances range from $25 to $500 depending on eligibility, $25 to $250 in Maine, that not all users qualify, and that the service isn’t available in all states. Our APR figures are illustrations built from Brigit’s published average advance and plan prices, assuming one advance a month repaid in 14 days. Your cost depends on how often you borrow and which plan you’re on.

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