UK banking apps that allow you to be paid a day early

Banking apps that allow you to be paid early

Revolut Standard Account

9.1 Excellent

See dealRead review

Minimum opening balance	£0
Account fees	£0
Interest (AER)	0% AER

Get a £20 welcome bonus when you spend your first £20 (T&Cs apply).

Revolut's in-app Early Salary feature is available to all UK-based customers who receive their salary into their Revolut account. All customers will automatically be enrolled in the service which means you can receive your salary one business day earlier than usual. If you don't want to use this, you'll need to opt out by contacting Revolut support through the in-app chat service. Revolut offers 5 different current account plans, one of which has no monthly fee. All plans offer currency exchange and cashback, but other features vary depending on the plan you pick.

• Pros and cons

  Pros

  • Low overseas fees
  • Quick sign-up
  • Earn cashback on spending
  • Set budgets for financial goals
  • Virtual cards for online purchases
  • Easy to transfer money internationally
  • Linked Revolut <18 account available for one child

  Cons

  • 1% currency conversion charge on weekend spending abroad
  • Free cash withdrawals in the UK and abroad both limited to £200 per month
  • Cannot deposit cash or cheques into the account
  • Charged a fee to receive your bank card

• More details

  Minimum opening balance	£0
  Account fees	£0
  Overseas card transactions	0% Mon-Fri (max. £1,000 per month)
  Overseas cash withdrawals	0% Mon-Fri (max. £1,000 per month) conversion fee plus cash fee of £0 up to £200 per month

Minimum opening balance	£0
Account fees	£0
Interest (AER)	0% AER

See dealRead review

Monzo Free Account

9.8 Excellent

Go to site Read review

Minimum opening balance	£0
Account fees	£0
Interest (AER)	0% AER

Sign up to Monzo and you can take advantage of its early payday feature. To get started, you need to arrange for your salary to be paid into your Monzo account by Bacs. Your salary will then be sent to you at 4pm one business day early. You don't need to sign anything and you can choose which months you want to receive your salary early. As well as your salary, Monzo can advance any other payments by Bacs, including your student loan. Your deposits in Monzo are also protected up to £85,000 under the FSCS, and you can open an account for free.

Representative example: If you use an arranged overdraft of £1,200, you'll be charged interest at 39% EAR variable.

• Pros and cons

  Pros

  • Easy to set up
  • Good for budgeting and categorising spending
  • Automatic saving feature
  • Fee-free spending abroad
  • Slick app with face login
  • Overdrafts and loans available

  Cons

  • Free ATM withdrawals outside the EEA limited to £200,
  • £1 fee for depositing cash at PayPoints,
  • Maximum cash deposit of £1,000 every 6 months
  • No rewards program

• More details

  Minimum opening balance	£0
  Switch service guarantee	Yes
  Account fees	£0
  Overseas card transactions	0%
  Overseas cash withdrawals	0% conversion fee plus cash fee of 0% on up to £400 per 30 days (3% thereafter)

Minimum opening balance	£0
Account fees	£0
Interest (AER)	0% AER

Go to siteRead review

Other services to use to get paid early in the UK

Pockit

Pockit allows you to get paid a day early if you have a BACS payment (typically salary or benefits) coming into your Pockit account. When a BACS payment is sent to your Pockit account, you’ll see the payment as pending the day before at around 3pm. You can then opt to receive it between 6:30pm and 7:30pm that day, rather than wait until the next day. It could be a useful feature if you have a payment that will come out of your account that day and you won’t have enough to cover it.

It’s free to access your pay early if you have a paid Pockit account, otherwise it costs you a monthly fee, so you need to weigh up if it’s worth the cost or you can wait another day. There’s no long-term commitment for the service, so you can use it sporadically if you only need it occasionally or have the free plan. Unless you’re using other features of one of Pockit’s paid plans, it might work out cheaper for you to get the same features from a bank that provides it for free, so always compare your options.

Access EarlyPay

Access EarlyPay is a mobile app that gives you early access to the salary you’ve already earned in that pay period. You can withdraw up to 50% of your gross pay each pay period, with instant access.

The EarlyPay app lets you see how much you could draw down from the salary you’ve earned so far that month. You can withdraw at any time of day, with just a few taps on your mobile phone. This money then appears in your bank account in a few minutes.

To use this, your employer needs to be registered with Access EarlyPay. It will send you an email with the details you need to sign up, then you can download the app and set up an account. Once set up, you’re able to withdraw your pay early at any time of day from your phone and the money will arrive in your bank account within minutes.

You’re charged a small fee for each transaction, which is shown in the app. It isn’t a loan or credit facility because you’re accessing your own salary early, so there’s no credit check or interest charges, just the transaction fee.

How does it work?

When your employer sends your salary to your bank account, your bank usually holds the funds until your designated payday.

However, if you use a banking app that offers a pay early feature, this typically means that rather than waiting for the funds to clear, the app makes the funds available in your bank account as soon as it’s aware that the money is coming into the system.

Once it has received this information from your employer, the provider can transfer your salary into your bank account a day early.

What steps do you need to take?

You’ll need to hold a current account with a provider that offers this service to be able to use it. Such providers include Monzo and Revolut. You’ll also need to be receiving your salary into this account.

Depending on the app, you can then choose when you want to get paid early, or it might be done automatically. Revolut, for instance, automatically enrols you into the Early Salary feature to receive your salary one business day earlier than usual. You’ll need to opt out if you don’t want to use it.

Monzo, on the other hand, sends you a notification the afternoon before your payday. As long as you’re paid by Bacs, you can tap through on the app to access the money there and then.

What are the downsides?

The main downside is that you can only choose to be paid one day early – which isn’t likely to be hugely helpful if your car breaks down in the middle of the month.

You’ll also need to have a bank account with the right provider to be able to use the service.

Bottom line

Getting paid a day early can be useful if money is particularly tight one month, but for most people, it’s unlikely to make a huge difference to their overall financial situation.

Where it could be particularly helpful is if you have a lot of bills that go out on your usual payday, in which case being paid a day early could make things a little less stressful. It could also be useful if your normal payday falls on a weekend, as it could allow you to receive your salary on the Friday rather than the following Monday (or even Tuesday if it’s a bank holiday).

Written by

Rachel Wait

Writer

Rachel Wait is a freelance journalist and has been writing about personal finance for more than a decade, covering everything from insurance to mortgages. She has written for a range of personal finance websites and national newspapers, including The Observer, The Mail on Sunday, The Sun and the Evening Standard. Rachel is a keen baker in her spare time. See full bio