Sheri Wilkins talks about her experience using the DailyPay app outside of the clubhouse at her apartment complex in College Station, Texas on March 26, 2024.
EarnIn is one of more than a dozen companies that provide this service, billed as Earned Wage Access. The apps extend small short-term loans to workers in between paychecks so they can pay bills and meet everyday needs. On payday, the user repays the money out of their wages. Between 2018 and 2020, transaction volume tripled from $3.2 billion to $9.5 billion, according to Datos Insights.
Muddying the waters is the fact that some employers have integrated Earned Wage Access apps into their payroll, with different costs, models, and fee structures. Amazon and Walmart, for example, do not always charge employees for early access to earned wages outside of regular pay periods.Sheri Wilkins, 60, who works as a home health aide in College Station, Texas, said she’s used the apps since 2020, and that she feels “dependent on the money.
A spokesperson for DailyPay said in a statement that the app offers two options with no fees to most users and a third with what they described as a “small ATM-like fee.” “Tips keep us running for millions of members like you,” EarnIn’s in-app copy reads. The company says it uses tips to maintain a no-fee option.In 2021, the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation found “users often feel compelled to leave due to applied pressure tactics like… claiming tips are used to support other vulnerable consumers or for charitable purposes.”