Let’s face the facts: it’s hard to find any certainty in life, especially when it comes to your finances. No matter how prepared you are for different bills and purchases, there will come a time when you need a bit of help. For most, this equates to needing just a little bit of extra time – or a small burst of money – to cover certain payments.
Maybe you’ve experienced a problem with your car, and it’ll cost a lot to fix, but that’s not something you factor into your budget. Rather than dipping into your savings, you need to borrow a bit of money to cover the costs. Or, perhaps you’re buying a new TV – or loads of presents during the holidays – and you’d rather not splash lots of cash all in one go. In that scenario, you’d like to opt for a “buy now, play later” approach.
All of this brings us to a position where apps like Gerald are extremely popular. It’s dubbed a “cash advance and BNPL app”, bringing together two useful financial services for you to use. People won’t stop talking about it as of late, so here’s our honest review of how the app works, what it can do for you, and whether or not it’s actually worth downloading.
Introducing Gerald
As stated, Gerald is an app that provides you with cash advances or a buy now, pay later service. It’s completely free to download (which is already a plus), and it also adds in a couple of additional features to that short list, so here’s the full rundown:
- Cash Advances: This feature will give you a cash advance on request, which is essentially a chunk of money that the app transfers to your chosen bank account. You get to use this money however you wish, and you’ll receive a repayment plan that automatically takes the payments back from your bank account over time.
- Buy Now Play Later: Gerald calls this “Shop Now Pay Later”, but it’s the same concept that you’ve likely heard of (and maybe even used) before. Instead of paying the full price for a product right away, you pay a percentage, and then Gerald covers the rest of the costs, enabling you to make payments back to Gerald over weeks/months. Many people see this as a good way of budgeting for bigger purchases by ensuring they have better cash flow.
- Mobile Plans: Gerald’s Cranberry mobile phone plans let you purchase eSIMS whenever you like. You get more flexibility than other providers, and the service is delivered through T-Mobile’s network.
- Play to Earn Cash: Perhaps the most unique feature of this app is the cool section that lets you play mobile games or complete surveys to earn points. You can convert those points into a cash advance!
- Cornerstone: This is an in-app store offered by Gerald, which lets you purchase things like household goods, appliances, and the like. It’s a fun addition – though it also plays a big role in how the whole system works.
Let’s Talk Fees: How Gerald Works
Usually, if you take out a cash advance or use any other BNPL system, it tends to charge fees or interest payments. That’s simply how the company will earn money for essentially lending you some cash to pay for things.
The thing with Gerald is that it wipes out these fees and genuinely offers an interest-free service.
Huh, how does that work then – surely the company won’t make any money by providing things for free? Well, this is where both the Mobile Plans and Cornerstone shop come into play. Gerald has a rule where your cash advance will only be active if you use a portion of the money to buy something in the store. Mobile plans seem like they count, and this is how Gerald makes money. It earns via customer in-app purchases instead of using interest rates, which is kind of unique – and a truly fascinating concept.
Pros & Cons Of Using Gerald
With a host of features and an interesting way of making money, it’s fair to say that Gerald has a few positive and negative talking points. Here are some we identified during our review, as well as a few recurring comments made by long-term users.
Pros
- No interest rates or fees to worry about
- Offers instant approval via the app with no credit checks
- Provides BNPL as well as cash advances
- The Play to Earn feature is quite useful and enjoyable
- Doesn’t force you to take out a subscription
- Can buy some pretty good mobile plans straight from the app
Cons
- Cash advances only go up to $200, which is quite low for a lot of people
- You have to buy something through the in-app store to access your cash advance, which can be a bit annoying
- Doesn’t really offer any additional tools to help with your financial goals
Is Gerald Right For You?
We will be honest: Gerald isn’t meant for everyone, but it’s also not designed for everyone either. If you’re experiencing money trouble and need a helping hand with bills, mortgage payments, etc, then this won’t be the app for you.
Instead, it’s mainly aimed at people who want to buy now, pay later every now and then – or are looking for a small cash advance to pay for something. The ability to get up to $200 whenever you need it can be great for some people, but it all depends on the situation.
The Verdict: 4 out of 5 Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The thing with Gerald is that it’s free to download and doesn’t incur any credit checks, so it’s kind of worth doing just to try it out. If you need a new eSIM plan, then it’ll be handy for you to use – or maybe you just want to play games and take surveys to earn a bit of money. Of course, it will still be extremely useful for anyone who needs a small cash advance or is looking to split the cost of a purchase into smaller installments.
Not having to pay interest rates or extra fees is a massive benefit with this app, and that’s why it’s tough not to recommend it. The only reason it doesn’t get the full five stars is that it would be nice to see cash advances over $200, but we suppose the limit is due to the fact that it doesn’t enforce credit checks or fees. Gerald is currently available on both the Apple Store and the Google Play Store for free – just remember it does offer in-app purchases.