March 1, 2021
The FinTech Industry Wants to Give Desperate Workers an Advance on Their Next Paycheck. It’s a Trap.
Employers love so-called earned-wage access apps. Their employees, not so much.
Illustration by An Chen
In a video filmed for his millions of Twitter followers, the celebrity preacher T.D. Jakes, posing in a double-breasted suit with a conspicuous gold watch on his wrist, asks his audience, “Do you realize 78 percent of Americans in this country live paycheck to paycheck?” Then he shares the good news: An app called Earnin can help. “It is possible to stretch your check,” he says, explaining that Earnin advances money to the user from their next paycheck, allowing them to cover unforeseen, urgent expenses. “Car back on the road. Refrigerator working,” he says. “Life goes on.”