MrBeast’s display includes $4.2M giveaway with app critics declare may trap other borrowers with high fees

recent YORK — MrBeast’s ambitious reality display, which the YouTube megastar hopes will expand his giant online reach and turn the corner on recent controversies, is already raising questions from customer advocates over a collaboration with a fintech corporation.

Prime Video’s Thursday premiere of the record-setting “Beast Games” capped off a tumultuous year for Jimmy Donaldson and his production corporation. Shortly after reaching never-before-seen YouTube subscriber totals, MrBeast began facing heightened scrutiny over history “inappropriate content,” the channel’s philanthropic efforts, its workplace population and allegations of risky on-set conditions that Donaldson has denied.

As MrBeast’s faithful following tunes in to watch 1,000 contestants compete for $5 million on “Beast Games,” they are invited to scan a QR code during the display for a shot at winning their own life-changing money. It’s a $4.2 million sweepstakes run by fintech corporation MoneyLion, an app that sends money advances — often for a fee to workers living paycheck to paycheck.

The collaboration is billed as a way for MrBeast, who has sought to regain brand depend in recent interviews with alternative media personalities, to provide back to his fanbase while presenting them with MoneyLion’s money management tools. But customer advocates alert MoneyLion’s early payments — which are also promoted to giveaway entrants — operate as payday loans that could trap needy users in profits-depleting borrowing cycles with additional fees.

Watchdogs discover that those services are not recommendable for younger audiences, making it an unusual associate for MrBeast to introduce to his persuadable fandom.

“These types of high-expense, fintech payday loans, wrapped up in fancy apps, just put people in a obligation trap where they have to borrow this week’s pay to pay last week’s loan and sets them back in their budgetary goals,” said Lauren Saunders, a director at the National customer Law Center who specializes in tiny dollar lending.

“Beast Games” marks Donaldson’s crossover into television entertainment. The North Carolina native has already captured online attention spans with his highly-produced, quick-paced YouTube videos that often characteristic absurd stunts and massive money sums; “Beat Ronaldo, triumph $1,000,000” recently pit professional athletes against amateurs in their respective sports.

He’s now testing the broad appeal of those viral spectacles with a competition series that promises “nail-biting, physical, mental, and social challenges” similar to Netflix’s fictional survival drama “Squid Game.” The $5 million prize is believed to be the largest in reality television history and Donaldson posted recently that he spent $14 million alone “building a city in a field” for the contestants.

MoneyLion’s collaboration will bring “fans closer to the action than ever before,” according to a corporation press release. Over 1,000 prizes will be awarded to MoneyLion accountholders across eight drawings over the next year. Additional entries can be earned through daily log-ins on the MoneyLion app, where users are promised exclusive, behind-the-scenes content from the series. Consistent with sweepstakes law, participants must be legal U.S. residents ages 18 or older.

Upon entering the giveaway, a popup asks, “desire more ways to get money?” with an invitation to borrow money through MoneyLion’s loan services. customer watchdogs declare money advancements can arrive with steep costs despite casting themselves as “no gain” loans.

Users must pay a sliding “turbo” fee to get their “Instacash” advancements “within minutes” instead of waiting the 2-5 days that MoneyLion estimates it would otherwise receive to hit an external checking account. The corporation charges $8.99 for the maximum advance of $100.

That makes MoneyLion one of the “more expensive options in this trade,” according to Center for Responsible Lending elder Policy Counsel Andrew Kushner. Considering the products are geared toward money-strapped people who require money now, Kushner said most users complete up paying the fees.

These apps make a “pattern of borrowing” as financially vulnerable users try to keep up with the “extremely high expense of the loan relative to the size,” according to Kushner. The Center for Responsible Lending found that users of these apps experienced a 56% boost in checking account overdrafts. Borrowers who use these “earned wage access” services withdrew 36 times a year, according to a 2021 California Department of budgetary Protection update.

A 2022 customer budgetary Protection Bureau lawsuit alleges that MoneyLion misled users to depend they could easily complete monthly memberships essential to access some installment loans but then refused to cancel those with due loans.

A representative for MrBeast declined to comment. In an emailed statement, a MoneyLion spokesperson said the corporation pairs budgetary tools and products to back “long-term budgetary health and stability” — all of which will be promoted to Beast Games Giveaway participants. MoneyLion said it will “continue to collaborate with regulatory bodies” including CFPB, according to the spokesperson, and focus on ensuring its products are “accessible, fair, and designed to make the best outcomes for our customers.”

Its “Instacash” fees are “clearly disclosed,” the spokesperson wrote, and the service helps workers “shatter the traditional payroll pattern” to “meet unexpected budgetary obligations.”

“The Beast Games Giveaway is designed exclusively for an 18+ spectators and represents a groundbreaking way to merge engaging content with accessible budgetary education,” the spokesperson said. “Through this collaboration, participants gain exposure to MoneyLion’s diverse marketplace of budgetary products, tools, and content.”

Saunders, the customer protection lawyer, said some lenders provide budgetary wellness tools that are really just “sugarcoating” their high-expense loans.

It’s “concerning,” according to Kushner, to advertise such a service toward younger adults who are still developing their sense of budgetary responsibility and are more susceptible to “the slick marketing of this industry.”

“You can view at 18 (years ancient) how that could be a really exciting thing to have in front of you,” Kushner said. “But it can really have negative consequences once you leave down the pathway of using it.”

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