Albert reviews: complaints & concerns

Digging through the latest 2025 complaints about Albert, a few pain points keep showing up:

• Surprise charges: Dozens say they’re hit with $15-$40 “Genius” or “savings” fees they never knowingly okayed, sometimes even after deleting the app.
• Impossible to cancel: Users describe a maze of tiny links, repeated ID questions and requests for a non-existent Albert debit-card number just to stop the subscription—many still get billed afterward.
• Auto pulls & overdrafts: Smart Savings, early repayment drafts and even direct-deposit reroutes yank cash without warning, leaving some accounts negative and racking up bank fees.
• Tiny or blocked advances: Reports of $10-$35 limits, week-long payback windows, frozen “pending” repayments and 3-6 day holds after money is taken make the Instant Cash feature feel anything but instant.
• Bots, bugs & relinking loops: Complaints of AI-only support, bank connections that constantly unlink, login lockouts, identity-verification dead ends and a generally glitchy app round out the frustration.

We dug through 100-plus recent App Store posts tagged “scam” and found the same story on repeat: Albert keeps charging after users think they’ve cancelled, bumps the plan price from about $6 to $15-$25 without warning, and quietly siphons off “savings” transfers or small fees that add up fast. More than half of those reviews flat-out label the app a scam, fraud, or theft.

A big chunk of complaints go further, saying Albert yanked $100-$500, flipped direct-deposit routing numbers so paychecks vanished, or auto-withdrew repayment before funds hit—leaving accounts overdrawn and triggering bank fees. Victims say the only way out was disputing charges or closing their bank because the listed phone line and the in-app “genius” bot rarely connect to a human.

Almost everyone slams the cancellation flow as a maze of dark patterns: you’re forced to answer endless questions, enter the last four digits of an Albert card you never got, and keep a $0 balance for days while new pennies drop in to block closure. In short, the scam reports center on forced subscriptions, sneaky withdrawals, and near-zero support—so link your bank with caution if you give Albert a try.

We spotted roughly thirty overdraft complaints. Most center on surprise pulls—$19.99 memberships, $6–$100 “Smart Savings” moves, even duplicate $100 repayments—that racked up NSF fees from $30 to nearly $400.

Timing is another sore spot: Albert often drafts on Thursday while paychecks land Friday, and one user says the app held a full $2,131 paycheck, blocking transfers and bills. A few report external accounts hit twice for $400 because the service treated overdraft protection like available cash.

Many reviewers say they couldn’t shut the taps off—auto-save kept re-enabling, subscriptions kept billing after deletion, and a single $6 pending transfer could freeze account closure—so several had to get their banks to block further charges.