More than 2.1 million Americans are about to get refunds after federal regulators accused a cash advance app of misleading them about how much money they could borrow and how fast it would show up.
Customers of Cleo AI who paid for eligible instant cash advances will share more than $15.8 million, says the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
The agency’s March 2025 complaint alleged that Cleo AI advertised access to “hundreds of dollars” in advances, but almost no one got anything close to that amount.
The FTC also alleged that users were hit with extra fees for same-day or instant advances that often did not land until the next day.
Regulators say the app made subscriptions hard to cancel, with some users told they could not cancel until they paid back outstanding advances.
Says one consumer cited in the complaint,
“There’s no other way for me to say it. I need my money right now to pay my rent. I have no other option I can’t wait 3 days. I can’t wait 1 day I need it now. I would never have used Cleo if I would have thought I would ever be in this situation.”
Cleo AI agreed to pay $17 million to settle the case and denied wrongdoing, reports USA Today.
The FTC plans to send 2,124,796 PayPal payments starting on October 27th.
Eligible customers will get an email notice from [email protected] by October 26th.
Recipients should accept their PayPal payment within 30 days.
The agency has not announced a set amount for each payment.
People with questions can call the refund administrator, Rust Consulting, at 1-877-788-4958.
The FTC says it never asks people to pay money or hand over account information to get a refund.
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