Earned or Early Wage Advance (EWA) products offer workers access to their wages before payday, usually for a fee. While low-wage workers can benefit from EWA programs that are properly designed and regulated, they can instead be harmed when products are allowed into the marketplace without guardrails keeping their use and cost within reasonable bounds.
States should regulate all EWA products as credit and require compliance with consumer protections that prevent predatory lending debt traps commonly associated with payday loans.