MoneyLion Review

MoneyLion Ratings at a Glance

Overview of MoneyLion

MoneyLion is a tech-forward platform providing a one-stop-shop for digital financial services. Unlike other platforms that may look similar from afar, MoneyLion focuses on accessible and effective products for anybody with an eye on improving their financial standing. MoneyLion makes clearing financial hurdles like building credit or starting an investment account easier with their integrated financial hub and cutting edge mobile app.

Mobile Banking 

• RoarMoney is an FDIC-insured, fee-free checking account with several impressive perks. 
• Get paid up to 2 days early each paycheck by setting up automatic direct deposits. 
• This is a nearly fee-free account with no minimum account balance requirements. 
• When you bank with RoarMoney, you’ll receive cash back when you use your debit card with eligible merchants.
• Benefit from Price Match — if you find something you purchased at a lower price, you can get refunded for the difference. 
• Track your spending and plan your budget with your RoarMoney account.

Instacash

• Get no-interest cash advances up to $250 dollars from the convenience of your MoneyLion app. 
• You can apply to Instacash by linking an eligible checking account — to qualify, your account needs to be at least 2 months old, have a history of regular deposits, show a positive balance and be visibly active. You’ll also need to verify your identity and account ownership.
• To request a cash advance, just tap Request in your app and specify the desired amount and date of transfer.  

Source: MoneyLion

Credit Builder Plus

• A hybrid savings-credit building account, Credit Builder Plus provides a foolproof route to credit improvement. This is a subscription service that opens up the door to small credit builder loans. These loans are offered up to $1,000 and you won’t face a credit check when applying. 
• The Credit Builder Plus loans are 12-month installment plan loans designed to notch up your credit score with a regular payment history.
• You’ll also get credit monitoring with weekly check-ins on several important markers for your credit standing, like payment history and credit utilization. 
• You can also earn rewards by using your RoarMoney account or the MoneyLion app and get Instacash up to $50 at 0% APR.
• Once the loan is repaid in full, you’ll have the full amount in your savings, which you can then access and use at your leisure. 

Automated Investing

• You can invest using MoneyLion with no maintenance fees and no balance.
• With Risk Slider, you can select a portfolio design based on your unique risk tolerance and investment time horizon.
• Enjoy personalized, customizable portfolio design.
• Fully automated investing and dynamic rebalancing are offered.
• Thematic Investing: Tailor your asset allocation around your investment priorities, such as focusing on socially responsible investing.
• Auto invest: Regularly contribute to your investment account with scheduled, automatic transfers from your linked bank accounts. 
• Designed for long-term investments, you can adjust your allocation as frequently as every 5 days.

Source: MoneyLion

MoneyLion Crypto

• Powered by Zero Hash, but not available in NY or HI
• Use Crypto round-ups to buy Bitcoin
• Buy, sell and hold crypto 24/7
• Manage Bitcoin and Ethereum
• Use #cryptocurious to learn more

MoneyLion doesn’t set a minimum account balance for any account, including for your investment account. Some features may require a certain amount in your account — if you use Instacash, you’ll need to make sure you have enough to cover the automatic repayment deduction scheduled when you request an advance.  

For the most part, MoneyLion is a fee-free platform. You won’t pay fees for any of the following:

• ATM withdrawal at 55,000 in-network
• Standard transfers
• Replacement cards
• Foreign transaction
• Account opening
• Stop payment
• Inactivity
• Return item
• Excessive transaction

The few fees MoneyLion does charge include out-of-network ATM fees and automatic account funding.

If you open up a Credit Builder Plus account, you’ll pay $19.99 monthly plus your monthly loan payment. Your automated investing account won’t cost you anything extra — there’s no minimum balance requirement and no management fees.

How to Open a MoneyLion Account

Anybody can apply to open up a MoneyLion account. When you sign up for a MoneyLion Core membership, you’re enrolled in a MoneyLion RoarMoney Fee-Free Checking account and MoneyLion Managed Investment account. 

Once you’re set up, you can also apply for a Credit Builder Plus account, which will allow you to apply for small credit builder loans up to $1,000. Once you pay off the loan, you’ll have access to the savings in your Credit Builder Plus account.

You can sign up on its website or by downloading the MoneyLion app, which is available in the Apple App Store and on Google Play. 

MoneyLion Investment Style

When you open up a MoneyLion Managed Investment account, you’ll be guided through a short questionnaire. Here, MoneyLion will assess your investment timeline and tolerance for risk, personalizing your portfolio. Your design will be structured around 5 core investment portfolios, or, if you’re an especially discerning investor, from 1 of 2 portfolio designs on each end of the risk vs reward spectrum. 

• Steady income portfolio: Reserved, cautious asset allocation. Grow your wealth using bond equity-traded funds, also known as fixed-income exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Your returns here will usually be higher than putting your cash into a savings account while mostly protecting your investments from market volatility.
• Conservative portfolio: Heavy focus on fixed income ETFs with, less focus on equity/stock ETFs. This design ensures higher liquidity and relative stability if potentially lower returns. 
• Moderately conservative portfolio: More weighting toward fixed-income ETFs but seeking more growth by shifting some weight to equity ETFs.
• Moderate portfolio: More balanced, seeks long-term growth while still protecting from risk. Mostly equal split between fixed-income and equity ETFs but a slight shift toward equity ETFs. This design may be subject to volatility but usually less so than the market itself.
• Moderately aggressive portfolio: Introduce higher risk potential to optimize long-term growth. Assets are primarily allocated to equity ETFs with enough weight given to income ETFs to act as a buffer for volatility. 
• Aggressive portfolio: This offers a high risk with a heavy weighting to equity ETFs and less than 20% allocation to fixed-income ETFs. Increased likelihood of exposure to volatility with full focus on long-term returns. 
• Aggressive equity-only portfolio: Designed for those who are in the market for high gains, this offering can tolerate high levels of risk. Suitable for long-term investors who can withstand high sensitivity to volatility, this portfolio is composed entirely of equity ETFs.

For further personalization, MoneyLion also offers Thematic Investing. Here, you can add themes like technology or socially responsible investing to your portfolio design to further streamline your asset allocation based on what matters most to you.

Another useful feature is automatic, routine investing from your deposit account. You’ll choose how much is transferred and how frequently — once you set it, you can forget it and watch your investment balance grow with steady, regular deposits. 

Source: MoneyLion

Structured around empowering the average bank user to maximize their wealth, MoneyLion is a digital platform fulfilling all your personal financial needs. Between your RoarMoney account, Credit Builder Plus membership and automated investing account, MoneyLion can check all the boxes on your personal finances wishlist.