Albert: Budgeting and Banking 4+

A guardian angel

In 2018 I created an account with Albert and set it all up and for whatever reason, I forgot about it. 2018 was 6 years ago so anything could have been going on at that time.

Fast forward to a few days ago (January 2024), I was told my dog needed surgery and it was going to cost around $6000. Now one thing I knew is that my dog will have the surgery but I wasn’t sure how I would get that kind of money within a week.

Now I sign up to receive offers via text to save me a percentage at checkout so when I do get them, I just delete them. Well I’ve always gotten this one text from a 5 digit number that I’ve just always deleted and never opened. I was laying in bed and I got the message and without realizing what I was doing, I opened it and clicked on the link. It showed my email address was already in there so I just needed my password. A little sketched out that it had my email, I tried a few passwords until one worked. When the page popped up, it showed I had over $7100 in there! I really thought it was a scam until I started going through all the tabs and files and found where I had set it up in 2018 and forgot about it. Since then it has been taking money out of my checking and has been putting it in there. Now I’m not big on checks and balancing so I never really paid attention when a few dollars came out of my account. I immediately withdrew it and had it go to my checking account and when I woke up the next day, the money was there!

Developer Response ,

We love a good success story. Thanks so much for sharing!

Stay Away

Do not get involved with this application. Unless you have spare money to donate. Once you want to take your money out, they will find ways as to why your transfers will fail. There is no one to call, except the messenger. They can’t even read what you are asking and take a while to review your account.
I had to jump through hoops to get the information they need, just to withdraw my own money. Per their team, it is Bank Secrecy Act. More information is required. I had to repeat my situation multiple times, since they requested items I could not provide, such as statements from bank account I no longer do my banking.
As I finally made 4 calls to my bank, personally visited them, got image retrieval (since a statement from my bank that all my accounts are closed was not sufficient). I had to spend more time with Albert app that did not accept 4 file images because the file was now too big! I tried various ways to submit that 4 page statement, even allowing the app to use my camera, or selecting images. Nothing worked, file too big, convert to PDF (while this is a mobile app!!!) so I tried four different PDF converters, installed them, but none of them a free and require monthly subscription. I don’t understand why Albert Application cannot handle 4 pages of images in the first place. I just have major frustration at this point. I never experienced such a big issue over withdrawing funds from anywhere. Please do not participate.

Don’t do it!

The app itself with Genius is great and a great tool to use. Other than that- there is no phone number to reach them. They have a text genius number and it’s very vague you can’t text a real person. I got my direct deposit sent to Albert, payday came and I noticed I did not receive my money. I called my payroll department confirmed the acct and routing number, they sent me my check stub and everything was correct. I wrote an email to Albert and included the check number that was made out to them, the amount it was for, the date my employer deposited the check and they responded saying they don’t see that check number. They asked if I can send them a copy of my paystub - I did, literally minutes upon opening that email. I asked them for a phone number where I can reach them because I need my money ASAP - I need to pay my rent and my car payment. And I have yet to receive anything from them. I sent them another email through my work. Nothing. Don’t waste your time, energy or money on this company they are scam artist! Very disappointed- was really liking the navigation of the app. I went to Facebook to see if there’s any way maybe I can reach them through there and come to find out a lot if people are going through the same thing!!! Next step is contacting BBB see if we can get things moving along or getting them shut down. Nobody should have to go through this!

Developer Response ,

Hi there — we're constantly trying to improve our products and our support services. With millions of members, we've found the most effective way to offer support is through text (639-37) and email (support@albert.com). Please note, we're here to help Monday–Friday (6am–6pm PT) and Saturday–Sunday (9am–6pm PT).