Albert App Review: An All-In-One Personal Finance Assistant

What Is Albert?

The Albert Corporation was founded by college friends Yinon Ravid and Andrzej Baraniak in 2015. In 2016, it raised $2.5 million in seed funding shortly after the app launched earlier that summer. Since its launch, Albert has continued to expand its offerings, including micro-investing through its Albert Investments arm. Albert Investments, LLC is an SEC Registered Investment Advisor.

Albert is not a bank. It is a financial technology company that offers banking services through banking partners. This includes FDIC-insured checking and savings accounts offered through Sutton Bank, Stride Bank, and Wells Fargo, N.A.

Disclosure: Albert Instant is an unsecured line of credit issued by FinWise Bank, a Utah chartered bank, Member FDIC. Limits range from $25 to $1,000. Draw fees apply. No Albert subscription required for Instant. Plans startat $19.99/mo but can be canceled at any time. Try for 30 days before you're charged. Fees auto-renew until canceled. Cancel in the app. Terms and eligibility criteria, including geographic restrictions, apply.

What Does It Offer?

Albert offers a robust suite of personal finance services and tools. These are some of the app's core features.

Banking

Albert has steadily added new features to its app, and Albert Cash is its latest addition. Albert Cash users receive a World Debit MastercardⓇ and can do virtually anything that can be accomplished in a traditional bank account such as:

Albert Instant (Cash Advances)

With Albert Instant, you may qualify for cash advances from $25 to $1,000. There are no late fees or interest, and you don't need an Albert subscription to access the cash advance feature.

In fact, you can enter your email from the website and find out how much you qualify for within a couple of minutes.

Albert does mention in the fine print on its site that not everyone will qualify, and few will qualify for the full $1,000 advance.  See app and Terms of Use for details.

Disclosure: Albert Instant is an unsecured line of credit issued byFinWise Bank, a Utah chartered bank, Member FDIC. Limits range from $25–$1,000. Draw fees apply. No Albert subscription required. Terms and eligibilitycriteria including geographic restrictions apply.

Albert Instant Loans

If you're eligible, Albert may show you an “Instant Loan” option right inside the app. The process is simple: you apply directly in-app, review the terms, and agree to repay the full amount before anything is finalized. Loan rates can go as high as 36% APR, depending on your credit profile, and interest is calculated daily until you pay off the outstanding loan balance. 

This is a short-term borrowing option, and while it may be convenient, it’s not cheap, especially if you carry the balance for a while. You may also see a finance charge baked into the loan, along with late fees (up to $10) if you miss a payment.

One thing to keep in mind is that some loans come directly from Albert, while others are issued by third-party lenders, with Albert acting as the middleman, so it’s worth paying attention to who you’re actually borrowing from before you accept the offer.

For legal reasons, Albert Instant and Albert Loans are unavailable to residents in the following states:

• Colorado
• Connecticut
• Iowa
• Maine
• Minnesota
• Montana
• Nevada
• New Jersey
• South Dakota
• Vermont
• Wisconsin

Ask A Genius

Genius is Albert’s premium option. With this, you can send financial questions and receive financial advice. Individuals with questions about debt repayment, how to buy a car, where to save money, etc. can get advice from a human.

You can test out Genius risk-free for 30 days. After that, the service is $14.99 per month. 

“Secret” And Automatic Savings

If you enable the "Smart Savings" option, Albert will use an algorithm to automatically save money for you when it recognizes that your income should outpace your expenses. It will transfer $25 to $100 per week out of your checking account to a savings account. 

The total amount is usually spread across 2-5 transfers that each range from $5 to $30. You can transfer this money back to checking whenever you want. But the goal is to keep it growing.

Users can set up automatic transfers from checking accounts to savings accounts. And currently, Albert pays out annual cash bonuses to basic accounts of 0.10% and 0.25% for users who enable Genius.

Easy And Diversified Investing

Albert Investing offers commission-free buying and selling of stocks. It also offers managed portfolios for Genius subscribers. These investments are an after-tax brokerage account. That means they shouldn't be your first choice for retirement savings. But they could be a great option for someone with 5-to-10-year savings goals.

Budgeting And Tracking

Like other budgeting and personal finance apps, Albert has a built-in budgeting feature, which was updated in 2024. Here's a breakdown of the various components of the budgeting tool: 

Accounts: Albert lets you view all your accounts in one place. You can also view your net worth. This way, you can monitor any external accounts you've linked, along with your Albert account. 

Spending: You can easily view your monthly cash flow, sort, and filter by spending category, merchant, and date. This fine-tuning of transaction categorization allows you to see where your money is going.

Budget: Albert not only delivers a 100% automatic budget but also analyzes your spending and creates one for you. Of course, you still have enough control to make any necessary modifications.

Bills and Subscriptions: Albert can now find your recurring expenses in your transactions, making them easier to monitor. Albert also includes a feature to help you lower your bills or cancel any unwanted subscriptions.

Transactions: In addition to advanced filtering options, you can also group your transactions to create a custom view. This can be helpful if you want to know how much money you're spending at a specific merchant, such as Target or Amazon.

The Albert budgeting tool is included in its standard $19.99 monthly subscription.  

Disclosure: Try for 30 days before you're charged. Plans start at $19.99/mo. Fees auto-renew until canceled. Cancel in the app. Terms apply.

Bill Trimming

Albert has also teamed up with BillShark to help users negotiate for lower rates on things like cable, internet, and insurance. According to Albert, BillShark helps its users to save an average of $250 per month. It should be noted, however, that BillShark will take a cut of the savings (40%).

Learn more about BillShark in our full review of its bill negotiation services.

Insurance Planning

Albert Planning can help you find and purchase a few different types of insurance policies. Users can sign up for:

• Life insurance
• Car insurance
• Home insurance
• Renters insurance

Policies are provided Albert Insurance Services, LLC. It appears that this service works the same for everyone, regardless of whether they choose to upgrade to Genius.

What Is Albert Missing?

With so many features, Albert seems like it’s the personal finance assistant that can do it all. However, I noticed that Albert doesn't currently offer many tools to help users address credit issues. It would be great for the app to direct those automated savings towards debt payoff goals rather than a savings account with a minimal yield.

Are There Any Fees?

Albert charges for its Genius platform. After its 30-day free trial, subscriptions range from $19.99 to $39.99 month. The Genius platform gives you unlimited access to a human who can help answer questions tailored to your situation. 

Albert isn’t a substitute for a comprehensive financial plan. But it’s a lot better than getting your advice from your neighbor’s best friend’s uncle. If you’re already paying for financial planning services, you won’t need to pay for Albert’s Genius feature.

Here's a screenshot of Albert's plans and pricing, and what's included at each subscription level: 

How Does Albert Compare?

Albert isn't the only app that uses machine learning to automate saving and investing. But it's one of the only ones that also offer support from human financial experts. Check out this quick comparison chart:

Is It Safe And Secure?

Yes, in addition to usernames and passwords, users can enable Face ID, Touch ID, or PIN code account logins. All deposits are FDIC-insured up to $250,000 through Sutton Bank. And investment accounts are SIPC-insured up $500,000 ($250,000 for cash).

How Do I Contact Albert?

If you've upgraded to a Genius membership, you can reach out to Albert's team of experts at any time through the app. However, if you're a basic user who simply needs technical assistance, there's no phone number to call.

There is a very solid Help section that answers many FAQs. But if you have a question that isn't covered there, you'll need to reach out via email to [email protected].

Is It Worth It?

Albert has potential as a personal finance app. The convenient banking tools, free (or low-cost) cash advances, secret savings, and financial checkups from real humans are all helpful and motivating. I especially like it for people focusing on the first steps in financial management.

That said, Albert won't be a great solution for everyone. For starters, paid plans start at $19.99/month and go up to $39.99/month for the Genius plan, which is very, very expensive. And the low yields on savings accounts and taxable investment accounts aren’t ideal for people trying to save or invest aggressively.

If you're looking for a high-yield savings account, check out our list of the best options available today. And retirement savers should definitely read our recommendations for the best places to save for retirement. Finally, don't forget to compare Albert with the other top money management apps of 2021.