Dave review - does it work for couples?

What is Dave and what are they known for?

Dave is a financial app that’s known for granting users the ability to access cash advances on their paychecks for much lower costs than traditional payday loans.  These cash advances can be used for practically anything, from paying your bills to simply maintaining a positive balance in your checking account, so you can avoid overdraft fees.

They provide four types of products that solve different financial problems that people might have:

• ExtraCash, is a cash advance program that lets you access up to $500 instantly

• A Spending Account (checking account)

• A Goals Account (savings Account)

• Side Hustles to help you earn more money

Dave was founded by Jason Wilk in 2016 and was recently taken public in January of 2022.

Who is Dave for?

Dave is designed to work for everyone, with its easy to use interface.  However, the Dave team has decided to focus mainly on: 

• Gen Z 

• People who need a short-term loan but don’t want to take out a payday loan

• Those who are looking to avoid costly overdraft fees charged by banks

The platform is built to be used by yourself (you cannot add a partner to the account), so you can only have individual checking and savings accounts through Dave.  They do not allow you to open joint accounts yet.

Source: Dave website as of July 2024

What is Dave’s Pricing Structure?

Dave’s pricing structure is relatively straightforward.  In order to access all of the features they have to offer, there is a mandatory $1/month subscription.  Additionally, they charge instant deposit fees ranging from $3-$25, and you can leave Dave a tip if you want, up to 25% of the borrowed amount.  It’s important to note that the latter two fees are optional - you aren’t required to tip, and if you can wait 1-3 business days for your advance, you don’t have to pay the instant deposit fee.  

With your $1/month subscription to Dave, you receive the following benefits:

• Access to a Spending Account (checking account) and Goals Account (savings Account)

• A debit card for your Spending Account

• Cash advances up to $500

• A suite of budgeting tools

What investment offerings does Dave have

At this time, Dave does not offer any investments.  However, they do offer users the ability to earn 4% APY on their savings accounts!

Does Dave work for couples?

Dave is not built to work for couples. For some couples, they’ve shared logins so both partners have shared visibility. Investment accounts are structurally individual accounts, and not joint accounts.

How to keep using Dave if you’re married

If you already have a Dave account, you can easily share visibility with your partner by using a platform like Plenty to track your accounts. That makes it easy to understand what you and your partner have together, especially when you’re tracking towards goals like buying a house. 

Plenty’s dashboard provides two views of your finances: what’s ours and what’s mine. You can connect all your credit cards, bank accounts, student loans, etc, and flexibly label accounts as shared / visible or private. That then provides one view where you can see all the things you own together and separately. Plenty then takes all the credit card and bank account data to help you track your spending (by category and merchant), and how much you’re both saving / investing. 

If you plan to continue using Dave or already have an account, Plenty is an easy way to start managing money with your partner while continuing to use Dave.

What if we want investments to be in joint accounts?

At Plenty, we were built for couples to use Plenty together. You can easily open up a joint investment account for new saving/investing you’d like to do together. You can also connect an existing Dave account if you’d like to keep the investments where they are; when you connect your Dave account on Plenty, you’ll be able to choose if you’d like to share visibility of your account balance with your partner (ie. make it shared), or make it private.

Interested in trying Plenty out? Sign up for free today or book an onboarding call to learn more.

Sources

Dave, www.dave.com.

Millerbernd, Annie. “Dave App 2024 Review: Cash Advances.” Nerdwallet, 19 Dec. 2023, www.nerdwallet.com/p/reviews/loans/personal-loans/dave-app.

Kumok, Zina. “Dave App Review 2024.” Forbes Advisor, 10 May 2024, www.forbes.com/advisor/personal-loans/dave-app-review/.

About Plenty

Plenty is a wealth management platform designed specifically for couples. We go beyond budgeting, making it simple to invest, save, and grow toward your future goals by unlocking access to the financial strategies of the wealthy. Ready to get started? Sign up for free today.

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