Brigit is a personal finance app that promised members they could get cash advances within seconds and with no hidden fees. Also known as Bridge It, the company offered a free version of its services, but many consumers living paycheck to paycheck paid $9.99 per month for its “Plus” membership that advertised “Get up to $250 whenever you need it.”

Promotions on Instagram, Facebook, and other media used terms like “instantly,” “quickly,” and “ASAP” with “no interest” and “no late fees.” The loan would be repaid when the customer got paid and Brigit offered “free repayment extensions” if needed. Customers could cancel their membership anytime.

But Brigit has agreed to settle FTC charges, including paying $18 million in consumer refunds, that many of its promises were deceptive. The FTC said that approximately 1 percent of Brigit Plus customers received $250 and about 20 percent couldn’t get a cash advance at all. It said that despite the promise that money would arrive instantly, Brigit began to charge an undisclosed fee of $.99 to get the money immediately rather than up to three days later.

The FTC also alleged that Brigit made it very difficult for customers to cancel their membership and stop monthly fees being charged to their checking accounts. It employed a series of dark patterns, including making people navigate through a variety of screens, additional offers, and even a multiple choice survey in order to cancel.

Brigit’s employees even reported that the onerous cancellation procedures were making a lot of people angry. The FTC cites employees who alleged that Brigit removed the ability to cancel a membership within the mobile app to “increase friction to delete” and that the survey was introduced to “reduce user churn” by adding friction to the deactivation flow. Customers with an outstanding advance found it particularly difficult to cancel and stop the monthly fees, some incurring charges for over a year that equated to a finance charge exceeding 121 percent.

In bringing the action, Samuel Levine, the FTC’s Director of the Bureau of Consumer Protection, said, “Brigit trapped those consumers least able to afford it into monthly membership plans they struggled to escape from.”

The FTC brought almost identical charges against FloatMe, another mobile app that offers small, short-term cash advances. The agency suggests other companies heed these three compliance points:

• Apps like Brigit may be new, but established consumer protection principles apply. Companies are offering consumers innovative financial products, but don’t think for a minute that the newness of the service will excuse unfair or deceptive practices.
• The FTC will continue to shed light on dark patterns. Subjecting consumers to deceptive design tricks, confusing navigation, and exhausting “save” strategies can run afoul of the FTC Act. 
• Consider – among other things – what your customers are telling you about possibly deceptive claims, confusing terms and conditions, unauthorized charges, and hurdles to cancellation.