How does DailyPay compare to Payactiv?

Payactiv revolutionized how lower-income workers get paid when it invented Earned Wage Access (EWA) in 2012. Our thesis is simple: By giving people access to their hard-earned income when they need it, EWA unlocks liquidity to pay for life’s essentials like food, shelter, gas and more. 

Today, millions of workers use EWA to annually access more than $10 billion of income between paydays. Our market leadership won us awards like Most Socially Responsible Company, Most Innovative Digital Wallet and the B Corp’s “Best for the World.”

When you lead, the competition notices. We love competition. It challenges all of us to improve. Unfortunately, sometimes others use questionable tactics to create Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD).

That’s the case today. 

The image above shows a wildly inaccurate handout created by our competitor, DailyPay. We’ve added the humorous callouts. 

Humor can be an effective scabbard. But there’s nothing funny about intentionally misleading you. 

You’re an HR leader or corporate executive. Your employees count on you to support them – Which means finding the best EWA vendor for your needs. 

Don’t be misled by our competition’s FUD misdirection. 

Here’s the truth about Payactiv’s Earned Wage Access: 

Truths vs Myths

Myth #1: DailyPay misleading tries to suggest Payactiv’s EWA repayment method via payroll deductions is inferior

Truth: Payactiv’s method is not inferior – in our opinion, quite the contrary. It provides freedom and choice to the employee. It protects the employee. It protects the employer. And it doesn’t require opening up a separate bank account.

Employees enrolled in Payactiv can choose to access their own money through our services at any time. They can choose the amount, usually up to $500. Payactiv fronts that money; the employer does not. 

Payactiv gets its money back using your company’s standard paycheck deduction processing at the end of each pay period. There are no surprises. 

We often limit the amount of accessible money to $500, but it’s configurable and can be up to 90% net income (see below). Many EWA providers operate similarly; it’s a proven model.

The data transfer between employer and Payactiv is straightforward and automatic. 

In contrast, DailyPay requires every user to create a new FOB account that deducts the amount directly from the user’s account without the same system of guardrails.

Myth #2: Payactiv users can only do instant transfers to the Payactiv paycard.

Truth: This is not true. Payactiv users can transfer their wages real-time to ANY debit, prepaid or payroll cards, including the Payactiv Visa Card. In addition, users can pick up their wages in cash at Walmart and can use earned wages to pay bills, call an Uber or shop on Amazon.  

DailyPay does not offer most of these options. It does not even have its own card.

Myth #3: Payactiv users can only access up to 50% of their net earnings.

Truth: Payactiv’s percentage of the accessible balance is configurable by the employer. 

Most employers seek to limit the amount of money an employee can access between pay periods. This is a “guardrail” to ensure the employee can still receive a paycheck at the end of the pay period and cover unexpected deductions. The 50% threshold is preferred by most employers. They have the option to increase this percentage to 90%. 

DailyPay automatically makes 100% of net earnings available to their users. This may risk putting users in a cycle of regularly accessing wages early and struggling to have enough at the end of a pay period. 

Myth #4: Payactiv pricing is higher than DailyPay’s and has many hidden fees.

Truth: The DailyPay handout misleadingly suggests we stack fees on our users. Some fees they reference don’t exist or are not ours! 

Simply, our pricing is often lower than DailyPay’s. It’s hard to beat free. Pricing is one of our strongest value propositions. 

With Payactiv, employees pay nothing when they transfer earnings to their Payactiv Visa card and have direct deposit set up. 

In addition, Payactiv puts a $5 bi-weekly cap on its $1 program fees, meaning we’re not taking advantage of lower-income worker. 

Here are examples of Payactiv fees: 

• $0 for instant transfers to the Payactiv Visa Card with direct deposit
• $1.99 for instant transfers to Payactiv Visa Card without direct deposit
• $2.99 for instant transfers to all other debit/payroll cards, and for Walmart cash pickup

In the handout’s “Fee Structure” section, there are fees that have nothing to do with EWA, such as what DailyPay is calling “interchange fees,” insufficient fund fees, and even ATM out-of-network fees. Interchange fees are fees paid by merchants, not consumers.  Insufficient funds and out-of-network ATM fees are charged by financial institutions in certain circumstances.

 Keep in mind, EWA is just one part of the Payactiv solution. We offer an all-in-one digital wallet designed to promote sustained financial livelihood, and we have several different fees because we have multiple services to support your workers’ needs!

We are transparent. You can look up fee information in the app or our website any time.  

We love truth. We’re sure you do, too. Be sure to follow the facts.