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Tally’s line of credit could be a useful tool if you want to save interest on your credit cards or need help managing your payments. Through the app, it handles your repayments for you and may be able to offer more competitive rates than you’re currently paying on your cards. But it won’t be much help if you’re really struggling with credit card debt, and you need strong credit to qualify.
$20,000
Max. Loan Amount
7.9% to 25.9%
APR
660
Min. Credit Score
| Product Name | Tally Line of Credit |
|---|---|
| Min. Loan Amount | $2,000 |
| Max. Loan Amount | $20,000 |
| APR | 7.9% to 25.9% |
| Interest Rate Type | Variable |
| Min. Credit Score | 660 |
Review by
Anna Serio is a staff writer untangling everything you need to know about personal loans, including student, car and business loans. She spent five years living in Beirut, where she was a news editor for The Daily Star and hung out with a lot of cats. She loves to eat, travel and save money.
Tally’s line of credit is best for individuals with strong credit who are struggling to pay off multiple credit cards. The app allows you to manage your monthly credit card payments all in one place. And if you sign up for its Tally Pays option, it makes your credit card payments for you, so you’ll never have to pay another late fee. Its Tally Advisor feature also helps you come up with a strategy to pay off your credit cards faster and save the most on interest.
However, you’ll need to live in one of the 31 states it services to qualify. And you need to have a credit score of at least 660 to meet its minimum credit requirements. It also might not be ideal if you have more than $20,000 in debt — where its credit line maxes out. In that case, you might want to consider taking out a personal loan for debt consolidation instead.
Rates as of November 5, 2019.
To qualify for a Tally line of credit, you need to meet the following criteria:
Simply meeting these minimum requirements might not be enough to get approved for a Tally line of credit — other factors go into the underwriting process as well, such as your credit history.
While Tally is currently only available in the following states, it has plans to expand:
Tally is a debt management app that provides several services, all of which require qualifying for and accepting a line of credit that is used to help you manage your credit card debt. Its credit limits run from $2,000 to $20,000 with variable rates ranging from 7.9% to 25.9% APR. The credit limit and rates you qualify for depend on your credit history.
But it’s not your typical debt consolidation loan. You can continue using and paying off your credit cards while Tally manages your monthly payments. It’s also a revolving line of credit, so there’s no fixed term or set monthly repayments.
A Tally line of credit works by fully paying down your credit card balances. If your credit limit is too low to cover all of your high-interest balances, its algorithm prioritizes which balances to pay down first. Along with trying to pay down your high-interest balances, Tally also helps handle your credit card monthly payments.
In return, Tally charges one minimum monthly repayment on its line of credit. Since many credit cards come with APRs higher than a Tally line of credit, this can help you save on interest. Tally also makes recommendations on how much you should pay each month to get out of credit card debt faster.
You have the option of signing up for automatic payments with Tally Pays or manual payments with You Pay.
With Tally Pays, you let the Tally app automatically pay off your credit cards for you using your Tally line of credit. This works two ways, depending on the interest rate of your credit cards:
You’re then charged one monthly bill from Tally. It uses this payment to cover the minimum payments on your lower interest credit cards. Then the rest of the funds are used to pay off the principal and interest on your Tally line of credit. While you have to make minimum monthly payments on your Tally credit line, you can pay more with no prepayment penalties. And if you happen to go over your Tally credit line limit, it doesn’t charge over-limit fees.
With You Pay, you get an alert to pay your credit cards a few days before they’re due. Keep in mind that even though you’re making payments manually, you still need to qualify for a line of credit to use You Pay. You can make your credit card payments directly through the Tally app using a linked checking account or through your credit card’s own app or website. The benefit of paying through the Tally app is that it automatically updates your account and shows you’ve made the payment. If you chose to pay through the credit card’s website, it can take several business days for the Tally app to update your account.
This is important if you signed up for late payment protection. There’s a chance you could make a double payment if Tally doesn’t realize you’ve already made a payment manually on the creditor’s website and makes another payment to help you avoid a late fee. Because of this, Tally recommends that you disable late fee protection if you choose to pay through your credit card’s website.
Tally currently supports most cards from the following banks and retailers:
You can download the Tally app for free. It also doesn’t charge any maintenance, account, late payment, over-limit or prepayment fees for its line of credit. The only cost you’re responsible for paying is the interest on your Tally line of credit.
From helping you save on interest to allowing you to make one monthly payment for all of your cards, Tally offers a slew of benefits.
One of the biggest selling points of the Tally line of credit is that you can manage multiple credit card payments in one app. And by signing up for Tally Pays, you don’t even have to make the payments yourself — Tally will do all of the work for you.
If you qualify for a low APR for Tally’s line of credit, you could save on interest by using Tally to pay off your higher interest credit cards. And you can do this without the hassle of signing up for a balance transfer credit card and having to pay off your creditors yourself.
Unlike most credit card providers, Tally doesn’t compound interest daily. This means you’re only charged interest on what you borrow from your Tally line of credit.
Every credit card you add to your Tally account is automatically signed up for late payment protection — though you can choose to disable it if you want. Through this program, Tally checks your account each month to make sure you’ve made at least the minimum payments on all of your connected credit cards. If it notices you haven’t made a payment, it will make the minimum payment for you using your Tally line of credit.
Tally allows you to go over your limit to cover the monthly minimum repayments on your credit cards without over-limit fees. You also won’t be charged fees for repaying early or late payments.
Your Tally line of credit balance renews as you pay it off and doesn’t have an end date. This means you can continue to benefit from Tally even after you’ve paid off your high-interest credit cards or if you ever add a new credit card to the mix.
You can see what rate and credit limit you might qualify for with Tally without a hard credit pull. This means your credit score won’t take a hit if it turns out you don’t even qualify for a Tally line of credit or a competitive rate.
Tally’s automated debt manager recommends how much to pay each month to reduce your credit card debt and save more on interest. It’s sort of like a robo-adviser for credit card debt. It’s ideal if you want to pay down your debt faster and don’t know where to start.
What’s cool about Tally Advisor is that its monthly recommendation adjusts with changes in your spending habits or if you change the timeline for when you want to get out of debt. You can also see how making extra repayments — even of just $25 — can help you get out of debt faster.
Though Tally has plenty of benefits, there are a few potential drawbacks you should be aware of.
Tally is currently only available in 31 states, though it has plans to expand to more. Make sure you’re a resident of an eligible state before signing up. Didn’t make the cut? Visit the Help tab on Tally’s website to find out if any new states have been added.
Tally only works with credit cards from a limited number of banks and retailers. Make sure your credit cards are eligible before signing up. Don’t see yours on this list? Visit the Resources tab on Tally’s website to see if any new credit card providers have been added.
Have more than $20,000 in credit card debt? While you can still benefit from the app, a personal loan might be a better solution if you want to consolidate a larger balance all at once.
While this might be a benefit for some, it makes it easy for you to add to your debts rather than focus solely on paying them off. If you’re worried about adding to your credit card balances, you might want to keep your accounts open but cut up your credit cards so you’re not tempted to spend more.
Unfortunately, you need to have a credit score of at least 660 to qualify with Tally. And even then, you might not get approved for a rate that’s lower than your current credit card interest rates.
If you just barely meet Tally’s eligibility requirements, it might be difficult to qualify for an interest rate that’s lower than the APRs on your credit cards. While you’ll still be able to use Tally’s app to manage your payments, it won’t be able to help you save on interest in the long run.
Tally gets mostly positive reviews from its users as of November 2019. On iTunes, it scores an average 4.5 out of 5 stars based on over 9,300 reviews. Google Play users give it a slightly lower 4.4 out of 5 stars, based on over 2,400 reviews.
The main complaints were from users who didn’t have a high enough credit score to qualify. A few were also annoyed that they couldn’t upload all of their high-interest credit cards. However, the majority were happy with how easy it was to sign up and save on their credit card rates.
Have the following information on hand to speed up the signup process:
Wait for Tally to run a soft credit check and review your card balances. If you’re eligible, it should tell you what rates and credit limit you qualify for. If you accept, follow the directions to agree and sign up. The whole process can take as little as 10 minutes.
You can use the Tally app to keep track of and manage your credit card payments. During the signup process, Tally determines the best payment preference for each of your cards, depending on its interest rate compared to your Tally APR. However, in the Tally app, you can change each of your cards’ payment preferences yourself.
If you want to have your cards paid down and avoid late fees, sign up for Tally Pays. Tally Pays allows the app to pay at least the minimum amount due on your cards to try to save you money on interest and fees. The payment setting automatically covers your minimum monthly payments two business days before they’re due. If you choose this option, Tally recommends that you turn off automatic payments on these cards.
Want to choose how much you pay each month? Sign up for You Pay instead. You can make payments from your checking account directly to your cards through the Tally app.
With both options, Tally automatically registers all accounts for late fee protection, where Tally makes minimum monthly payments if it notices you haven’t made your payments at least two days before they’re due. You Pay users can disable this feature in the You Pay payment preferences for specific cards.
We just announced that we’re doing an automated savings service that will also integrate into the credit card payment flow. This means if you do have credit card debt, it will automatically save money for you and allocate it to the right credit card.
With this, we’re trying to solve the two most common problems facing Americans: Eliminate credit card debt and build up an emergency fund. We’re starting here because these are the two bases of the pyramid of needs.
And then from there, it will be about eliminating other kinds of debt and building out bigger savings to help Americans save for larger goals.
A Tally line of credit can help you save on interest, make it easier to get out of credit card debt and simplify your repayments. But it’s not available everywhere and isn’t an ideal solution for anyone who’s struggling with a large debt load. Those who are might want to instead consider a personal loan for debt consolidation.
Read our guide to learn more about how personal lines of credit work and compare your options.
What do I do if I’m disputing a charge on my credit card?
Reach out to Tally customer service by phone or email so they can make sure it makes the correct payment.
Will Tally cover my minimum monthly payment if I’ve maxed out my credit line?
Yes, Tally always covers your minimum monthly payments and doesn’t charge a fee even if you go over your credit limit.
What if my credit limit doesn’t cover all of my credit card balances?
In that case, Tally prioritizes which credit card balances to pay off first to make sure you get the most savings in interest.
How long did it take to create the Tally app?
It took developers three years and $42 million to create the Tally app.
Does Tally have plans to expand its line of credit to more credit ratings?
Yes, when we talked to Tally’s cofounder and CEO Jason Brown in April 2019, he told us that the company has plans to expand its services to borrowers with less-than-perfect credit.
Pictures: meettally.com
