Earned wage access gives employees access to wages they have earned but not yet been paid on. There is a misalignment between the biweekly receipt of wages, and the multiple days in between during which bills and other expenses must be met.
This misalignment creates a cash flow shortfall, which hourly workers have historically filled via expensive forms of short-term credit such as payday loans, installment loans, auto title loans, pawn loans, overdraft fees and late fees.
