EarnIn

Independent Sources

Shown for context — not merged with USAComplaints' own numbers.

Contacts

• Official website (EarnIn): https://www.earnin.com/
• EarnIn Customer Care email (non-urgent): [email protected]
• EarnIn phone listed in General Terms contact section: +1 888-551-1784
• EarnIn complaints email (General Terms): [email protected]
• EarnIn Card holder phone support (card holders only): +1 888-537-9883
• BBB-listed phone for EarnIn: (888) 551-9382
• EarnIn legal notices (arbitration opt-out, disputes): [email protected]
• EarnIn Help Center: https://help.earnin.com/hc/en-us

Locations

EarnIn problems: contact, fees, repayment, closing your account and escalating (checked October 9, 2026)

EarnIn is an app that advances a part of money the company estimates you have already earned and takes the amount back from your linked bank account around payday. The company describes itself as a fintech company, not a bank, and says some bank products come from partner banks. Most problems come down to four things: a transfer that did not arrive, a fee or tip you did not expect, a debit on the wrong day or amount, or closing the account.

Contact. EarnIn's Help Center says: "EarnIn offers 24/7 in-app chat support" and "Chat support is the quickest and easiest way to contact EarnIn." It lists [email protected] "for general, non-urgent inquiries" and the mail address EarnIn, Attn: Customer Care, 391 San Antonio Road, Third Floor, Mountain View, CA 94040. A phone line, +1 888-537-9883, is "reserved for EarnIn Card holders and does not support general inquiries." The contact section of EarnIn's General Terms of Service (effective May 7, 2026) lists a different phone number, 888-551-1784, the email [email protected], and a separate complaints address, [email protected]; the Help Center page opened on 2026-10-09 mentions neither that phone number nor the complaints address, and neither page says how the phone number is staffed. BBB displays another number, (888) 551-9382, which is not named on EarnIn's own pages.

What it can cost. EarnIn's Cash Out agreement says you are "not required to pay any fees or charges to use any of the Cash Out Services, however, additional fees may apply to use Lightning Speed" and that a tip is "completely optional." Its fee table (last updated September 8, 2026) lists Lightning Speed fees of $3.99 (transfers of $75 or less), $5.99 ($75.01 to $150) and $8.99 (more than $150) for Cash Out, and $0 for standard-speed transfers. The same table says customers in Indiana, Florida and New York are subject to different Lightning Speed pricing, and customers in some states (Wisconsin, Colorado) may see a different structure under a no-tip model. EarnIn's Early Pay page advertises direct deposits up to two days early for $2.99. EarnIn will refund a tip "if you request a refund within 30 days of repayment," through live chat in the app.

Repayment. You authorize EarnIn to debit your bank account on or around payday for the advance plus any tip and fee. The Cash Out agreement says: "You do not have an obligation to repay any of the Cash Out Services, and EarnIn will have no legal or contractual claim or remedy against you based on your failure to repay." It adds that if a repayment is not completed you are prevented from using the services until you pay, and that EarnIn "will not" engage in debt collection activities, sell the amount to a third party, or report it to a consumer reporting agency. The Help Center says you can reschedule a debit by contacting support "by 8 a.m PT (11 a.m ET) at least one business day prior to the scheduled debit date." The debit authorizations say you may revoke them by emailing [email protected] at least three business days before the scheduled debit date; if EarnIn receives the notice later it "may attempt to cancel" the debit but "will not be responsible if the debit is completed as scheduled." The Help Center article on revoking bank authorization says to contact support "at least three business days before the day the transaction is scheduled", that revoking while transfers are pending "may not prevent funds from being delivered", and that if you revoke authorization through your bank you "will not be able to use EarnIn with that bank account again" and will have to link a new checking account.

Closing your account. EarnIn's Help Center article on closing an account says the process "is impacted by the type of EarnIn account you're enrolled in." It describes three cases.

• Cash Out. Open Settings, click your profile and choose "Close My Account", in the app, on earnin.com in a mobile browser, or on a desktop browser. You can cancel pending debits that have not yet been sent for processing, but then you cannot use EarnIn's services or open a new account until they are repaid. A closed account cannot be reopened, and a new account cannot reuse the same banking information for 7 days after the last EarnIn debit on the old account.
• Early Pay or Live Pay (EarnIn Card). The article says to "contact EarnIn's customer support to close your Deposit Account permanently" and that "unenrollment can't be completed manually in the app." It adds that you will not be eligible to sign up for a Deposit Account or EarnIn Card again.
• Cash Out Link (EarnIn Central account). The article says closing happens in two stages. Stage one is "pending closure", which "lasts up to 90 days": the account is inactive, and EarnIn "may still process" repayments ("repayment cannot be cancelled upon account closure"), ACH or direct deposit returns and dispute-related credits. The Lead Bank account used for Cash Out Link is closed as part of the process, and Cash Out Link and Early Pay cannot be closed separately. If the balance is below $0, the account stays in pending closure, repayment is still required, and it fully closes 90 days after the balance is paid off.

Deleting the app from your phone is a separate step from closing the account.

If chat does not resolve it. EarnIn's General Terms list [email protected] as its complaints address. Ask your bank about the debit in the same period (banks have their own rules for disputing electronic debits). You can submit a complaint to the CFPB at consumerfinance.gov/complaint and to the FTC at reportfraud.ftc.gov, and to your state attorney general or state financial regulator; EarnIn's agreements direct California consumers with comments or concerns to the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation at (866) 275-2677 or dfpi.ca.gov/file-a-complaint. EarnIn's General Terms (effective May 7, 2026) contain a mandatory 60-day informal dispute process, binding arbitration, a class-action waiver, and a 30-day right to opt out by emailing [email protected] or writing to EarnIn, Attn: Legal Department, 391 San Antonio Rd., Floor 3, Mountain View, CA 94040; read those terms before relying on court action.

Regulators and agencies: Colorado Attorney General lawsuit (August 2026), D.C. Attorney General case, CFPB advisory opinion (December 2025), Washington data-security notice

Colorado Attorney General (filed August 27, 2026). Attorney General Phil Weiser and the Administrator of the Uniform Consumer Credit Code sued Activehours, Inc. dba EarnIn in the District Court for the City and County of Denver. The press release says the lawsuit "challenges EarnIn's direct to consumer product and not any product that integrates with employers." The complaint alleges that EarnIn's Cash Out advances are loans, that its tips and Lightning Speed fees are finance charges, that it lacks a supervised lender license and made no loan disclosures, and that app design steered users to tip; the state says that between January 2023 and July 2025 EarnIn made more than 3.1 million transactions to 56,778 Colorado consumers, about $300 million in advances, with more than $16 million in tips and Lightning Speed fees and an average APR of nearly 388 percent. It seeks restitution, civil penalties, disgorgement and an injunction. These are the State's allegations in a pleading; EarnIn describes Cash Out as access to earned income, not a loan, and no EarnIn response to this complaint or ruling was found in the sources checked on 2026-10-09, including EarnIn's press and blog pages. The complaint copy published by the Attorney General does not show a case number.

District of Columbia Attorney General (filed November 19, 2024). The D.C. Attorney General sued Activehours, Inc. d/b/a EarnIn in D.C. Superior Court (2024-CAB-007303) alleging deceptive marketing of "no mandatory fees" and "no interest", unlicensed lending, and interest above the District's 24 percent cap once Lightning Speed fees are counted. The sources checked describe the outcome differently. A February 9, 2026 release from EarnIn's law firm, Hogan Lovells, says the D.C. Court of Appeals "denied the D.C. Office of the Attorney General's (OAG) request to appeal the dismissal of multiple claims" and lets stand a May 2025 ruling that the question whether earned wage access is a loan belongs to the District's financial regulator. The Center for Responsible Lending's tracker says the court found it lacked primary jurisdiction over whether Cash Out is a loan but allowed other claims about deceptive practices to proceed, and that the case was in discovery. The NCLC library lists a January 28, 2026 D.C. Court of Appeals order denying an application for allowance of appeal in 2024-CAB-007303. The D.C. Superior Court docket itself was not opened, so the trial-court status is not confirmed here.

CFPB advisory opinion (December 2025). The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau published an advisory opinion, "Truth in Lending (Regulation Z); Non-application to Earned Wage Access Products" (Federal Register, December 23, 2025). It says that "Covered EWA", as it defines that term, "is not credit" under Regulation Z and withdraws the CFPB's 2024 proposed interpretive rule. The opinion says it "has no legally binding effect," and it criticizes several federal court rulings, including ones involving EarnIn, as relying on the withdrawn proposal. This page does not decide whether any EarnIn product meets the opinion's definition.

Data-security notice (reported November 2025). The Washington State Attorney General's data-breach page for Activehours, Inc. d/b/a EarnIn lists a start date of April 16, 2025, an end date of October 14, 2025 and a report date of November 12, 2025, information compromised as "Name; Social Security Number; Full Date of Birth; Other", and "Number of Washingtonians Affected: 3412". The notice PDF posted there contains customer letters; one, with the subject line "Notice of Data Security Incident", says: "On October 14, 2025, we discovered that, from April 2025 through October 15, 2025, our system sent encrypted personal information of Lead Bank customers to another one of our partner banks." It lists full name, date of birth, address and Social Security number, says "the receiving bank destroyed the data they inadvertently received", and says EarnIn has "no evidence that your information has been misused." The 3,412 figure is Washington's count only; this page states no total for other states, and no regulator finding about the incident was identified in the sources checked on 2026-10-09.

Licensing. EarnIn's NMLS page lists earned wage access licenses or registrations for Activehours in California, Kansas, Missouri, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah and Wisconsin, and a longer list of lender, collection-agency and other licenses for EarnIn US1 LLC (NMLS #2567882). The CFPB opinion quotes Kansas and Missouri earned wage access statutes that say a registered provider's services are not considered a loan or other form of credit.

Activehours, Inc. (EarnIn): who operates it and how the products work

The contracting company is Activehours, Inc., d/b/a EarnIn (General Terms of Service, effective May 7, 2026). The company says it was founded in 2013; its page for AI assistants names Ram Palaniappan as founder and CEO. BBB lists the business address as 391 San Antonio Rd, Floor 3, Mountain View, CA, entity type Corporation, and the alternate name Activehours, Inc. The site footer gives NMLS numbers for Activehours, Inc. (#2535570) and EarnIn US1 LLC (#2567882).

• Cash Out. EarnIn's page says up to $150 per day and $1,000 per pay period, with "no interest, no credit check, no mandatory fees"; money arrives in 1-3 business days at no cost or in minutes for a Lightning Speed fee. EarnIn says earnings are validated by a work email address or by enabling GPS tracking.
• Live Pay / EarnIn Card. EarnIn's card page advertises access to pay in real time "up to $1,500/pay period" and a card for "$2.99/month with autopay". EarnIn lists Evolve Bank & Trust and Lead Bank (Member FDIC) as its bank partners for deposit accounts and cards.
• Early Pay, Balance Shield and others. Early Pay (direct deposits up to two days early), Balance Shield (low-balance alerts and automatic transfers), Credit Monitoring, Savings Jars and Earn Better are listed on the site; Balance Shield transfers are governed by the Cash Out agreement.

The company's own pages give app ratings of 4.8 (App Store, 352.5K reviews) and 4.7 (Google Play, 275K reviews); these are EarnIn's statements, not figures this site checked.

Complaint record as displayed on October 9, 2026 (BBB, CFPB, Trustpilot, this site's archive)

These figures come from different systems and are not added together. Complaints are consumers' allegations; the company's responses are shown where the source records them.

• BBB (profile for EarnIn, Mountain View, CA): BBB Accredited, rating A+; 281 total complaints in the last 3 years and 58 complaints filed in the last 12 months (complaints tab); 4.88/5 from an average of 3,048 customer reviews. BBB's raw page data gives: accredited June 19, 2019, file opened September 13, 2016, business started May 21, 2014, incorporated May 22, 2013.
• CFPB Consumer Complaint Database (company name 'Activehours'): 287 complaints, first received April 27, 2017 and most recent September 29, 2026; 82 received since October 9, 2025. By product label the largest groups are "Payday loan, title loan, personal loan, or advance loan" (113) and "Payday loan, title loan, or personal loan" (82); the most frequent issue labels are "Money was taken from your bank account on the wrong day or for the wrong amount" (37), "Can't stop withdrawals from your bank account" (30) and "Can't contact lender or servicer" (27). The database records company responses of "Closed with explanation" (257) and "Closed with monetary relief" (30). Consumers can file about financial products even if the company is not listed in the public database.
• Trustpilot (earnin.com): TrustScore 4.8 from 2,163 reviews, 544 in the last 12 months. The profile is claimed with a paid subscription; Trustpilot says the company "hasn't invited customers recently, so reviews may not be representative" and shows that it replied to 70 percent of negative reviews.
• This site's archive: no approved complaint on usacomplaints.com was identified as being about EarnIn (a word search of offender names, titles and texts on 2026-10-07), so this page has no archive complaints and no theme counts.

Lawsuits involving EarnIn (dockets and court opinions checked October 9, 2026)

The cases below are consumer or government cases in which EarnIn is the defendant. Rulings on motions to dismiss decide only whether a claim is plausibly pleaded, not who is right; EarnIn denies that Cash Out is a loan.

• Colorado v. Activehours, Inc. dba EarnIn (Denver District Court, filed August 27, 2026): see the regulator section; no ruling identified.
• Johnson et al. v. Activehours / Thomas v. Activehours (D. Md., No. 1:24-cv-02283-JRR): putative class action filed August 7, 2024. On August 8, 2025 the court granted EarnIn's motion in part and denied it in part: it dismissed the Maryland Consumer Protection Act count and let the Maryland Consumer Loan Law and Truth in Lending Act counts proceed, writing that plaintiffs plausibly alleged EarnIn is a creditor under TILA. On August 25, 2026 the court denied EarnIn's motion to dismiss the Maryland Consumer Debt Collection Act count of the second amended complaint. Korey Thomas is now the sole plaintiff.
• Golubiewski et al. v. Activehours (M.D. Pa., No. 3:22-cv-02078): putative class action filed December 30, 2022. On September 16, 2024 the court granted EarnIn's motion to dismiss all claims, with 21 days to amend; on August 28, 2025 it denied EarnIn's motion to dismiss the second amended complaint, including the TILA claim. Later events were not identified (the Justia docket was last retrieved August 28, 2025).
• Taylor v. EarnIn US1 LLC and Activehours, Inc. (N.D. Cal., No. 5:26-cv-06673): class action complaint filed July 1, 2026 by Vivian Taylor. Justia lists the defendants as "EarnIn US1 LLC doing business as Earnin" and "Activehours, Inc. doing business as Earnin". Its docket (last retrieved August 5, 2026) shows the case reassigned to District Judge Noel Wise on July 21, 2026 and, on August 5, 2026, a stipulation to extend the defendants' time to respond to the complaint. The docket entries do not state the claims, so this page does not describe them.
• Stow et al. v. Activehours, Inc. (M.D.N.C., No. 1:25-cv-00391): putative class action filed May 19, 2025 by Joshua Stow, Tiara Lofton and Sharone Bunn; the docket does not state the claims. On October 22, 2025 the court granted EarnIn's motion to compel arbitration and stayed the case for one year; the order says that absent a motion to continue the stay filed no later than September 30, 2026, the stay will be lifted and the case dismissed without prejudice on or soon after October 30, 2026. The free dockets checked (Justia, last retrieved October 23, 2025, and CourtListener) show no later entry, so whether a motion to continue the stay was filed is not confirmed here. An order compelling arbitration decides the forum, not the merits.
• Perks et al. v. Activehours, Inc. (N.D. Cal., No. 5:19-cv-05543-BLF): class counsel says a federal court granted final approval of the class settlement on March 25, 2021, and that it has been fully administered (the Justia docket page, last retrieved March 25, 2021, lists only filings through October 2019, so the order was not confirmed from the docket). The class was consumers who incurred an overdraft or insufficient-funds fee that a bank attributed to an EarnIn withdrawal from September 3, 2015 through May 28, 2020.
• The CFPB's December 2025 opinion also cites Orubo v. Activehours, Inc., 780 F. Supp. 3d 927 (N.D. Cal. April 30, 2025), a motion-to-dismiss ruling; that docket was not opened for this page.
• District of Columbia v. Activehours (D.C. Superior Court, 2024-CAB-007303): see the regulator section; the trial-court status is not confirmed.

Is EarnIn Legitimate?

EarnIn is operated by an identifiable company, Activehours, Inc., which lists an address in Mountain View, California, NMLS numbers and a set of state earned wage access licenses on its own site; BBB shows a file opened in 2016 and BBB accreditation since 2019 with an A+ rating (as displayed on 2026-10-09). The CFPB database shows 287 complaints under the name Activehours and BBB shows 281 complaints in three years (separate systems, not added together). EarnIn is the defendant in an August 2026 Colorado Attorney General lawsuit, in private class actions in Maryland and Pennsylvania in which courts have let some claims proceed, and in newer class actions in California (filed July 2026) and North Carolina (sent to arbitration and stayed in October 2025). EarnIn also notified customers of a data-security incident involving Lead Bank customers' information, listed by the Washington Attorney General. A D.C. Attorney General case was, per EarnIn's counsel, narrowed at the trial level and left that way on appeal. These record items concern how the product is classified and priced; no final court judgment on whether Cash Out is a loan was identified in the sources checked on 2026-10-09.

The CFPB's December 2025 advisory opinion and the court rulings point in different directions on whether earned wage access is credit under federal law, so the legal question is open. Fees you pay for speed or tips you choose are visible in the app and in EarnIn's fee table; read the amount shown before you confirm each transfer.

Court & Public Records

Company Relationships

• Affiliated with: EarnIn US1 LLC

Frequently Asked Questions