Moves Financial Review 2024

With how the gig economy is shaping up these days, many rideshare drivers and gig workers, in general, are looking to multiple gig apps to earn their income.

But sometimes, our bank accounts aren’t as full as we need them to be. Bills need to be paid, an extra medical payment crops up and needs to be covered, or even worse: your car breaks down.

As gig workers ourselves, we know it can be tough to get quick access to cash since many lenders require stable income.

Until now.

There’s a new company out there called Moves, offering a first-of-its-kind product – a comprehensive banking app designed specifically for gig workers. Moves helps manage your money across different gig apps, offers gig deposit-based Cash Advances, and even stock ownership in the companies you work for.

Today I will go through what Moves does for drivers like us—along with the upsides and downsides of using them.

This post is sponsored by Moves but, as always, opinions are our own.

What is Moves Financial?

So, what is Moves? On their website, they state:

“Moves exists to focus on the gig worker. We’ve built a world-class, all-in-one financial app to help gig workers manage their business and work towards getting ahead together.”

Moves helps you:

  • Understand your gig income across apps
  • Manage your earnings
  • Access your weekly payouts up to two days early
  • Earn cash straight to your account by referring other gig workers
  • Easily access cash whenever you need it
  • Earn stock ownership in the gig economy
what is moves financial

Basically, Moves is an all-in-one banking app that serves as the ‘home’ for your gig business. Moves members get access to cash advances and can track their income across multiple apps.

Rather than having a separate card for each gig, you would consolidate all your earnings into one account.

To get started, you would need to link a gig account to verify your gig work. Once you do, you’ll be prompted to open a Moves Spending Account.

When you start depositing into your Moves spending account, it will then build up your Cash Advance eligibility. Doing so will also allow you to earn free stock rewards in the gig companies you work for and join the Moves Collective.

As long as you deposit $100 from a gig platform, you’ll be able to meet the minimum requirement of accessing a Cash Advance of $100. Click here to read more details on qualifying for the different Cash Advance amounts.

Example

Using real-time assessments, the Moves app will automatically adjust your eligibility to determine your highest qualified Cash Advance. As you continue to bank with Moves, you will find yourself being offered up to $1,500 as a Cash Advance!

moves banking platform cash advance option

Moves supports over 20+ gig platform apps, giving you the ability to link to most if not all of your gig work apps to show your current and historical earnings, including:

  • Uber/Uber Eats
  • Amazon Flex
  • Lyft
  • Instacart
  • GoPuff
  • Doordash
  • Shipt
  • Grubhub
  • Rover
  • Roadie
  • Wonolo
  • Cornershop
  • Point Pickup
  • Favor Delivery
  • Angi Services
  • ASAP
  • Instawork
  • Skipcart
  • Taskrabbit
  • Shiftsmart

They’re continuing to add more gigs as they improve on their app. You can see an up-to-date list of support platforms here.

Moves uses the Argyle platform to tie these apps together in one place, making it a one-stop shop for you to show your gig income. So all you have to do is log in to each of the gig work platforms you earn from, and Moves will ‘read the data’ to verify your earnings. Think of it as a super-fast income verification.

What Moves Offers Gig Workers

Moves offers a variety of banking features for gig workers, including:

  • Moves Spending Account
  • Interest-free Business Cash Advances up to $1,500
  • Stock Rewards
  • A physical debit card giving you access to cash at 55,000+ free ATMS
  • Weekly payouts up to 2 days early
  • All in one gig earning tracking
  • Earnings reports for loan applications, landlords, or background checks

Moves Spending Account

The Moves Spending Account is tailor-made for gig workers. You can conveniently manage your deposits and spending from various gig jobs all in one account.

This account is free – there are no monthly fees or maintenance fees, and gives you access to over 55,000 free ATMs. In addition, you can get immediate access to your weekly payouts up to two days early at no additional cost.

When you link all of your gigs to Moves (for example, Uber, DoorDash, Rover), you can get a clear picture of how you work. There’s no more toggling among apps, screenshots you’ve taken, or any other notes you’ve made. It’s all in one place for you to quickly see and track how much you’ve earned so far.

Every week, you’ll be sent a Weekly Business Report for an analysis of your performance, too. You can easily link new accounts (if you sign up with Lyft, for instance), and those earnings will be added seamlessly to your My Gigs tab.

Business Cash Advance (BCA)

Moves offers gig workers a chance to take out a cash advance based on their gig deposits into their Moves Spending Account. Here’s how it works.

Basically, the cash advance is an eligible amount deposited into your bank account in exchange for your promise to pay them back with your future earnings. It’s made for helping with business expenses—rideshare and delivery drivers are small business owners, after all—such as car repairs, buying equipment for your vehicle or bike, and so on.

Here’s an example:

Let’s say your car breaks down and you need a starter or an alternator. Depending on your car, this could easily cost $1,000.

Moves only charges a one-time service fee that depends on the length of contract you choose. So if you are given a cash advance of $1,000 and choose to pay it back over 10 weeks. Moves will take back a total of $1,150. The actual amount that will be deducted from your bank account as payment will be quoted to you before you accept the cash advance payment.

Moves’ automatic repayment system is easy, smart, and adaptable. After you have received your Cash Advance funding, a portion of each gig payout deposited into your Moves account is applied to your Cash Advance repayment until your account is settled. Each repayment adjusts to how much you earn. In the example above, only 10% of each deposit would be applied to your cash advance repayment. Moves members have the option to instantly pay off or catch up right from the Moves app at any time.

So, what happens if you can’t pay the weekly payment or want to pay it off faster? Good news – Moves doesn’t charge late fees and has flexible repayment options. However, if you miss too many consecutive payments, your credit reputation with Moves falters, and you may not be given another cash advance in the future.

So, what happens if you can’t work for a week or want to pay it off faster? Good news – Moves doesn’t charge late fees and has flexible repayment options. However, if you are late to pay back your cash advance by your chosen contract length, your credit reputation with Moves falters, and you may not be given another cash advance in the future.

Of course, to get a cash advance through Moves, you’ll need to be approved for it. According to their website:

“To unlock the Cash Advance feature, you need to have at least $100 of gig income deposited into your Moves account each month. Gig deposits must come directly from one of our supported gig platforms. Note, both weekly and instant payouts will count towards Cash Advance deposit requirements!

Your Cash Advance amount is primarily based on the total gig payouts you have recently deposited into your Moves Spending Account. Maintaining a healthy account with regular use and consistent gig payout deposits, as well as keeping a healthy account balance, are also taken into consideration for your Cash Advance as you build your reputation with Moves.”

You can check out their Get Started Guide here.

Earn More with Moves Collective

The Moves Collective is a program open to members once they have opened a Spending Account. It allows gig workers to own stock in the companies they earn on. Quoted from their website:

“We believe that with thousands of gig workers becoming owners in the companies they earn on we can create a voice that can’t be ignored and share in the value created.”

In February 2022, Moves even submitted a shareholder proposal to Uber requesting an independent director with first-hand experience earning in the gig economy be added to the Board of Directors. Earning free stock can make a difference!

There are a few ways in which members can earn shares:

  • Gig workers can earn stock rewards when they spend on their Moves Card
  • Completing certain tasks that help them better manage their money.

The exact stock and amount can differ and will be brokered by their partner, Bumped Financial.

Interested in signing up with Moves? Create a Moves account here.

Why Use Moves?

why choose moves

Aside from the fact that Moves will give you a cash advance based on all your earning deposits, it seems a safer option than some of the alternatives out there.

For instance, there are payday loans that have high-interest rates and take back your entire loan in one lump sum payment, often leaving you needing to take out a loan with them once more just to make ends meet.

Even if you get a cash advance from your credit card, it seems almost impossible to pay back. You’re paying interest more than anything, and a lot at that (interest rates of 22% and up aren’t uncommon!). It could take you a year or more to fully repay the cash advance.

Moves offers one low, simple fee that makes it easier for you to pay them back, and having payments that match your earnings helps in the long run too.

Moves also has a variable payment schedule to settle your cash advance instead of the regular 4-week (or less) payback periods that are commonly implemented by other payday loan or cash advance options. If you want and are able to pay it back in full sooner, you can do so at any time throughout your contract without penalty.

In addition to the cash advance, Moves is an excellent app for gig workers who work for multiple apps. It’s easy to quickly see how much you’ve earned so far across all of your platforms, and compare your earnings to previous weeks.

I also personally like the Weekly Business Report for competitive reasons – how did I do last week? How can I do better? It’s great to see those weekly earnings increase from week to week depending on what new strategies I’ve implemented.

Pros and Cons of Using Moves Financial

Pros

It’s free to set up an account with Moves, so in my opinion, it’s a no-brainer to have an account set up and ready to go with Moves just in case. Similar to how gig workers should diversify by working for multiple services – in case you’re unfairly deactivated, you have back up, Moves can be thought of similarly.

Even if you decide against getting a cash advance, you’re not out anything if you just want to sign up and poke around a bit.

Overall, Moves costs much less than other lenders and quick cash options. You get the money instantly, and you set the contract length to pay it back in full. Each repayment adjusts to how much you earn so if you cannot work for a week, you don’t need to stress.

The Weekly Business Report is especially handy if you work across multiple apps, and the Moves Collective looks informative and potentially lucrative, depending on what money-making opportunities it finds for Moves members. It seems like a well-designed app that has gig workers top of mind.

Live support can be found in-app or you can email Moves directly at hello@movesfinancial.com. From 10-5 EST, you’ll be able to chat directly with a Moves agent through the Chat button.

Cons

It would be nice if the Moves app could have more features that would benefit drivers—such as tracking mileage for all of the apps you’re using as a gig worker, show a snapshot of average earnings across all of the platforms.With time, I wouldn’t be surprised though if these features were added to the platform.

Who is Moves Financial Best For?

Moves is good for gig workers who want to get ahead financially and have greater ownership in their work via stock rewards. With faster access to money up to two days early, Moves members can better manage their earnings while keeping track of their performance with their weekly earnings goals set.

Let’s not forget, Moves is also perfect for those who might need a business cash advance in the future (again, always better to be prepared than surprised.)

Here are some good examples of when I’d recommend using Moves:

  • Time-sensitive car repairs – emergencies happen, and repeated emergencies happen too! Two years ago, I had two $1,000 back-to-back emergencies with my car (yes, two)… for times like these, Moves can come in handy.
  • ERC fees – Gig workers are eligible for $7,000 employee retention credit, but you do need to pay a tax preparer to help you apply, and Moves can come in handy to cover the fee if you don’t have all of the money upfront.
  • Taxes – ideally, you’ve saved money from your gig jobs all year to pay your taxes either quarterly or in April when they’re due. Unfortunately, some drivers don’t realize they need to set aside money and get hit with a higher than anticipated tax bill. In this case, Moves can help out – just make sure to thoroughly read our tax guide so it doesn’t happen again!
  • Tracking – one of the best ways to earn more in the gig economy? Track the money! Where are you earning the most? Which weeks are the most profitable? What did you do differently? Moves can help you track each gig individually and the sum of your gigs.
  • Access to financial services – Moves will help connect members to financial services that are hesitant to work with gig workers.

I know if you’re living paycheck to paycheck, it can be difficult — sometimes impossible — to set aside anything for an emergency. I’ve had to take out cash advances before and ended up in a seemingly endless loop of paying it back and needing the money all over again to make ends meet. It went on for months until I was finally able to save enough extra to pay it off and not need it immediately again. I also found a way to cut down on expenses to make it less necessary to need it again.

But, I do like that Moves allows you to pay it as you earn instead of the full amount taken out in one day. That’s easier to budget for, and I wish I had that kind of option available to me a couple of years ago.

Finally, it’s nice to see a company recognize that drivers and couriers need access to financial services and are worthy of investing in. It’s hard enough for gig workers to qualify for certain business funding, car loans, and more. With Moves, there’s one place to track your earnings, see historical earnings, and get access to financial services we might not otherwise have been aware of.

You can sign up for a free Moves account here. For more information, terms and conditions, click here.

Disclaimer:

Brokerage services and products are provided through Bumped Financial LLC, member FINRA/SIPC. More about Bumped Financial LLC is available on FINRA’s BrokerCheck. Mention of any specific stock or holding is for illustrative purposes only and not an investment recommendation. This is not an offer to buy or sell securities, or to open an account where Bumped Financial LLC isn’t registered. The Bumped app and website are operated by Bumped, Inc. Bumped Financial is a wholly owned Subsidiary of Bumped, Inc. Moves is not an affiliate or subsidiaries of Bumped Inc or Bumped Financial.


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