Search results for: earned wage access

In February 2022, a legal opinion issued by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation (“DFPI”) concluded that employer-provided earned wage access (“EWA”) transactions are not loans under the California Financing Law and California Deferred Deposit Transaction Law.  The DFPI’s legal opinion stands to provide significant clarity to the EWA industry and should encourage the continued adoption of earned wage access as a solution to employees’ needs for low-cost temporary liquidity.

Before diving into the DFPI legal opinion, we briefly remind readers of the basic structure of EWA programs.  Earned wage access is a service that allows workers to obtain wages that they have earned, but have not yet been paid, prior to the worker’s regularly scheduled payday.  Although the exact structure of each program differs, EWA programs generally fall into two broad categories:

  • Direct To Consumer Models are offered directly to workers, without the employer’s involvement.  Any eligible worker can access EWA from a direct to consumer model, as the worker’s employer offering the service is not a prerequisite.  Because direct to consumer models do not integrate with employers, recoupment of EWA advances is typically effected through a single-use automated clearinghouse transaction from the employee’s personal bank account on the employee’s payday.
  • Employer Integrated Models involve the EWA provider entering into a contract with an employer to offer the service as an employee benefit to the employer’s employees.  An EWA provider using the employer integrated model may integrate with the employer’s payroll and time card systems to receive data about the amount of earned wages that an employee has accrued as of a certain date.  Employer integrated programs typically fund an earned wage advance through the employer’s payroll system and then recoup the advance through a payroll deduction facilitated by the employer on the employee’s next regular payday.

Some EWA providers charge fees for use of the service, which are typically either flat transaction fees or “participation” fees for use of the program.

As an innovative and emerging product, EWA programs present novel financial regulatory issues.  The most significant of these issues is the status of an EWA transaction as a non-credit transaction. Continue Reading California DFPI Affirms Employer-Integrated Earned Wage Access Is Not a Loan

On November 30, 2020, the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued its final Advisory Opinion Policy, along with two Advisory Opinions (AOs) addressing the applicability of the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) to certain earned wage access (EWA) programs and private education loans. The CFPB first proposed a pilot AO program in June 2020. In this Legal Update, we analyze the EWA AO, including: (1) the regulatory landscape for EWA programs prior to the AO; (2) application of TILA and consumer credit laws to EWA programs based on the AO; and (3) the practical implications of the AO on EWA programs more generally.

Read more in Mayer Brown’s Legal Update.

Mayer Brown has published a new edition of Licensing Link, a periodic publication that will keep you informed on hot topics and new developments in state licensing laws, and provide practice tips and primers on important issues related to state licensing across the spectrum of asset classes and financial services activities.

In this issue, we discuss the first-of-their-kind earned wage access provider registration and licensing laws that Missouri and Nevada recently enacted, and discuss Maine’s move to transition its licenses for debt collectors and money transmitters to the Nationwide Multistate Licensing System (“NMLS”) later this year.  Check it out and subscribe to receive future issues directly.