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February 21, 2024
Everything You Need To Know About Financial Wellness Programs For Employees: 2024 Outlook
Discover everything you need to know about enhancing employee financial wellness and staying competitive in 2024. From insightful strategies to actionable tips, this article provides comprehensive guidance to elevate financial well-being in the workplace. Read more
December 18, 2023
8 Side Hustles That Pay (up to $200) Daily
Explore the top side hustles that offer daily pay on Fortune’s latest feature. From gig economy opportunities to innovative platforms, this article showcases potential options for individuals seeking beginner-friendly, additional income streams. Read more
August 11, 2023
Earned Wage Access: What You Need to Know About This Increasingly Popular Payroll Benefit
Nevada and Missouri’s historic bills declare Earned Wage Access (EWA) not a loan, paving the way for innovative regulatory frameworks. These changes allow EWA providers, like Payactiv, to empower more employees and businesses, reducing reliance on payday loans and late fees through accessible registration processes. Read more
July 27, 2023
Earned Wage Access: Early Payday or Payday Loan?
For over ten years, Earned Wage Access has aided paycheck-to-paycheck workers, granting early wage access. Industry experts and regulators continue debating terms and lending aspects. Listen to Payactiv CEO Safwan Shah’s interview, an EWA pioneer, for insights into the ongoing discussion and its nuances. Listen Podcast
July 21, 2023
6 Things to Know as States Eye Earned Wage Access Rules
Stay up-to-date on the evolving landscape of earned wage access rules as states consider regulatory changes. Discover the key factors shaping this evolving industry and stay informed on the latest developments impacting workers’ access to earned wages. Read more
June 26, 2023
What Nevada’s Pioneering Earned Wage Access Law Really Means
Nevada marks a milestone as the inaugural state to enact a bill affirming Earned Wage Access is not a loan. The legislation establishes EWA parameters and provider guidelines to expand employee coverage through innovation. Dive deeper into the bill’s particulars and its practical implications. Read more
March, 2023
The Economic Imperative for Providing Financial Wellness Benefits
Financial wellness benefits have become increasingly important tools for US employers in recent years, with a remarkable shift in attitudes towards employee financial wellness. Companies like Walmart, Costco, and Whole Foods have already seen measurable improvements in their recruitment, retention, and engagement metrics by making financial wellness a big part of their workplace culture. Safwan Shah, CEO of Payactiv, wrote a guest article for HR.com explaining the three ways organizations can benefit from financial wellness programs in the workplace and the significant ROI that can be achieved through increased productivity, reduced stress, improved morale, and innovation. Read more
January 24, 2023
Why the Arizona AG opinion on EWA matters
The recent Arizona Attorney General’s opinion on EWA is in line with decades of decisions across the country that have found that non-recourse products are not loans. Payactiv’s General Counsel Aaron Marienthal and Vice President for Government Affairs Molly Jones explain how the opinion provides essential clarity for employers offering employees on-demand access to their earned wages. Read more
February 16, 2022
U.S. Bank, Payactiv Unveil New Earned Wage Access Solution for Employers
Today, US Bank announces its partnership with Payactiv to bring EWA to millions. Employees at organizations that use the prepaid U.S. Bank Focus Card for payroll disbursements can now access a portion of their earned wages on-demand through an immediate direct deposit to their U.S. Bank Focus Card. The collaboration includes other payment options including an instant deposit into an employee’s checking account via Real-Time Payments (RTP). The solution will also provide access to other financial wellness services, including savings and bill management tools. Read more
December 8, 2021
Payactiv Wins the 2021 BAI Global Innovation Award in Human Capital
BAI announced the 2021 winners for the BAI Global Innovation Awards, highlighting transformative solutions in financial services worldwide. This year’s winners were selected by the Innovation Circle, a panel of distinguished judges and advisors from around the world who are at the forefront of innovation. Together with BAI, they identified award finalists from an impressive list of submissions and eventually selected the winners and honorable mentions. Read more
December 1, 2021
Best in Biz Awards, the only independent business awards program judged each year by prominent editors and reporters from top-tier publications in North America, today announced the winners in its 11th annual awards. This year’s program saw intense competition among more than 700 impressively strong entries from public and private companies of all sizes and spanning all geographic regions and industries in the U.S. and Canada, ranging from some of the best known global brands to the most innovative start-ups and irrepressible local companies. Read more
November 16, 2021
UKG Ushers in New Generation of Financial Wellness with UKG Wallet Powered By Payactiv
“Timely access to earned wages enables people to meet their livelihood needs without the high cost of borrowing and provides them with a step toward financial wellness,” said Safwan Shah, chief executive officer at Payactiv. “Everything we do is to help people maximize the impact of their earnings, every day, to reach their goals. UKG Wallet will make a difference for millions of people on their financial journeys.”
“Timely access to earned wages enables people to meet their livelihood needs without the high cost of borrowing and provides them with a step toward financial wellness,” said Safwan Shah, chief executive officer at Payactiv. “Everything we do is to help people maximize the impact of their earnings, every day, to reach their goals. UKG Wallet will make a difference for millions of people on their financial journeys.”
July 20, 2021
Payactiv Card Offers Workers Fast Access to Earnings and Savings on Everyday Necessities
When workers can access their paychecks faster, they can often avoid payday loans, overdraft fees, and financial setbacks. That’s why Payactiv partners with more than 1,500 U.S. employers to provide workers with immediate access to their earnings via the Payactiv Visa Card. The Payactiv app also offers budgeting tools, financial education resources, and a discount marketplace for everyday consumer items.
July 6, 2021
Reinventing the way businesses and workers get paid
A Visa survey revealed that 2/3 of workers would choose to work with a company that offers real-time, on-demand payouts over a company that relies on more traditional payment schedules.
April 21, 2021
Episode #32: Addressing Financial Shame in America
2/3 of Americans have less than $1,000 in their savings accounts, and 75% live paycheck to paycheck, a real crisis in terms of what people are experiencing on the front lines of American companies today.
April 12, 2021
ELM Animation Project Wins Baltimore & Regional Addy Award
A collaborative endeavor from beginning to end, Payactiv partnered with RTC to produce this short animated brand film that tells the story of an hourly worker who is empowered and transformed by an open-minded new offering from his company that allows him access to his earned wages.
February 8, 2021
How Earned Wage Access Can Upend Predatory Lending And Build Employee Financial Wellness
People use payday loans but nobody ever asked why. 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. Bills and expenses do not wait for payday.
Nov-Dec 2020
Helping Low-Income Workers Stay Out of Debt
A study conducted at the Harvard Kennedy School explores how innovative fintech products can disrupt this damaging cycle and benefit employees and employers alike.
September 9, 2020
Conscious Capitalism at Work: How to Walk a Mile in Your Employees’ Shoes
Leaders can truly support their employees by trying to understand the nuances of circumstances that might be quite different from their own. Here are a few ways to let your team members know you’re listening.
August 18, 2020
Why ‘earned wage access’ is suddenly a big deal
The coronavirus pandemic has greatly disrupted many people’s cashflow, and made financial management much more stressful. Earned wage access is one way to provide relief to those who still have an income but find themselves financially strained.
August 13, 2020
Payactiv Secures $100 Million of Funding for Employer-Sponsored Financial Wellness Solutions
Payactiv, Inc., the leading employer-sponsored earned wage access and holistic financial wellness platform, today announced that it has secured $100 million of funding to further its mission of bringing security, dignity and savings to workers.
July 16, 2020
Early wage access provider Payactiv’s pandemic response leads to new business model PaymentsSource
Payactiv, Inc., the leading provider of employer-sponsored earned wage and tip access, today announced PaymentsSource.com published an interview with co-founder and CEO Safwan Shah. The discussion with author Michael Moeser covers Payactiv’s new pricing models called ACCESS Freedom and ACCESS Choice, and reduces fees to free and $1 per day of use, respectively. Shah also discusses the reasons for the pricing model change, why Payactiv chose to become a Certified B-Corporation and Public Benefit Corporation, and his vision for assisting struggling workers by repairing the cash flow misalignment that occurs between paychecks.
May 14, 2020
Millions of hourly workers get paid faster due to Visa and partner support
For many people, waiting for payday can cause great stress, a situation only made worse in today’s environment. Hourly workers on the frontline are among those most heavily impacted by the pandemic, including those stocking shelves, supporting logistics, running our pharmacies, making deliveries and providing other essential services. According to Payactiv data, because of the COVID-19 crisis, 82% of hourly workers are now saying that loss of income is their greatest concern.[1] Even prior to the pandemic, 44% of Americans had less than $500 in savings.[2]
What if hourly workers could access their already-earned wages in between the regular pay cycle, giving them greater financial flexibility and peace of mind? This is known as Earned Wage Access (EWA).
April 3, 2020
Paychex and Payactiv’s On-Demand Pay Option Brings Relief to Workers
See how Payactiv and Paychex’s partnership solved employees’ earned wage problems. Read more.
April 3, 2020
Paychex, Payactiv partner on employees’ access to earned wages
Payactiv provides fast access to wage solution during COVID-19 crisis. Click for more…
April 1, 2020
U.S. Hourly Workers Push to Get Paid Sooner
Get earned wages when workers needed the most. See how Payactiv does it
March 20, 2020
Consumers seek early access to wages to soften coronavirus hit
Workers living paycheck to paycheck are borrowing to survive the economic impact of the pandemic.
September 2, 2019
Some Companies Offer a New Benefit: Payroll Advances and Loans
Typically, payday loans charge $15 for every $100 borrowed. Bank overdraft fees often cost about $35. In contrast, Payactiv charges $5 per pay period when an employee uses the service, which also includes financial counseling and online bill payments.
June 30, 2019
The Ontology of Unpaid Earnings
Payactiv is a particularly interesting innovation. Marketing itself as a “financial wellness solution,” it plugs into employers’ time-and-attendance systems and allows employees to withdraw up to $500 of their earnings before payday, for a fee of $5 per pay period. These aren’t one-time withdrawals: You get an unlimited number of transactions, including cash withdrawals, Uber rides and debit-card payments, for the one-time fee.
June 23, 2019
How Americans’ financial behavior has changed: Less stock picking, more part-time work
If you labor in lower-income positions, including part-time “gig” jobs, the trend is toward getting pay into the hands of workers faster — often within a day or two of completing a shift. “As a society, we want everything — food, movies or whatever — in real time, so why can’t payroll be on demand, too?” asked Ijaz Anwar, chief operating officer at Payactiv.
June 3, 2019
Don’t sideline earned income access
Workers’ financial health is no longer an HR issue; currently, it now affects a company’s bottom line. Not surprisingly, employee demand for EIA at workplace is high even in absence of any employer promotion. This is a no-brainer — when an EIA program only costs $5, who would pay $45 for a $250 payday loan or $35 for a bank overdraft?
May 9, 2019
How Payactiv app lets workers access their wages early
Head of human resources at Jenny Craig Australia and New Zealand Joshua Nunan said financial insecurity was a “real issue” for many Aussies, and a number of staff members had already used Payactiv since Jenny Craig signed up several months ago.
March 9, 2019
Visa and Payactiv are now providing quicker pay for those who need it most
Employees can use a smartphone app to download their money onto a Visa debit or preloaded card, or even a traditional credit card. That also helps workers who do not have access to a traditional checking account.
Dec 18, 2018
Fintechs Step Into Payday Alternatives Where Banks Fear to Tread
“Our ability and agility to seamlessly integrate into businesses pre-existing systems allows for an execution” that banks are unable to accomplish, Ijaz Anwar, Payactiv’s co-founder and chief operating officer. Payactiv has also partnered with community banks and credit unions to offer wage advances to financial institution’s employees.
September 18, 2018
Need cash now but you don’t get paid until Friday?
“I have bills to pay, things to buy for my kids at home, and not having enough money to accomplish what I need to do is very stressful,” said Payactiv user, Pearl Campos. When she needs money, she’s able to tap into a service offered by her employer.
August 29, 2018
New app offers help to millions of Americans living paycheck-to-paycheck
Payactiv – a new app – offers an alternative to predatory payday loans. Yahoo Finance’s Dion Rabouin and David Pogue talked with the company’s CEO, Safwan Shah.
August 16, 2018
Walmart And Others Offer Workers Payday Loan Alternative
Think about that for a minute. According to the Federal Reserve, 40 percent of Americans don’t have $400 in savings to fix their water heater or some other emergency. But Shah says they’re spending around $2,000 a year on fees and interest to get emergency short-term cash. He thought this was a problem that needed fixing.
…
More than a hundred companies have now signed up with Payactiv. A Walmart executive says there’s been an “extraordinary” response from employees. More than 200,000 Walmart workers are now using the system.
Listen to this NPR All Things Considered story
August 5, 2018
Need a loan? Forget the corner payday lender — your boss has you covered
Last week, Payactiv announced its service will now be available to more than 600,000 employers that work with payroll giant ADP.
Shah said his deals with ADP and Employee Loan Solutions’ tie-up with Brightside show there’s growing acceptance among employers that the best way to help financially stressed employees is not to lecture them about budgeting or savings but to offer them services that solve immediate problems.
“If somebody is hungry, do you give them a diet book or a meal?” he said. “At some point, you have to do something real.”
May 14, 2018
A Better Alternative to Payday Loans
More than 50 million Americans in low-income working families struggle to manage everyday cash flow. “… Walmart, one of the largest employers of low-wage workers, recently made Payactiv available to its employees. From December to March, 80,000 Walmart employees received more than $30 million through Payactiv.” – Todd Baker and Snigdha Kumar.
Dec 13, 2017
Wal-Mart Will Allow Workers to Have Early Access to Pay
The world’s biggest retailer has unveiled financial-planning tools designed by Silicon Valley-based Payactiv Inc. and Even Responsible Finance Inc., a move that lets its employees access earned wages ahead of scheduled paychecks and avoid bounced checks or payday lenders.
Jul 21, 2017
Solving “more month than money” puzzle
Payactiv representatives help set up savings accounts, demonstrating how saving just a few minutes’ worth of wages over time becomes a way to pay debts or family expenses. They also guide users to credit counselors for one-on-one advice.
May 17, 2017
Better fintech alternatives to high-cost credit are already here
If these fintech products were widely available, they could benefit virtually all of the nation’s 10.4 million low-income working families and, indirectly, the 47 million individual members of those families.
AIER
January 11, 2017 Tools to Help Lower-Income Americans Save Money
One way to help address the financial wellness of lower-income Americans is to help steer them away from resources that end up hurting their financial condition in the long run. The company Payactiv offers a market-based workaround to this issue by collaborating with employers to provide an innovative benefit.
Dec 1, 2016
Nazareth Home and Sacred Heart Home showcase workplace innovation
“I was thrilled to see this program (Payactiv) and delighted to bring it to the staff. Right now, about one-third of our staff are using the program. It consists of an app that can draw from your account, or it can be used at a special ATM that is accessible to everyone on campus.”
StartupSense
Dec 1, 2016 “Payactiv helps low income employees, people making $25 and less. We let employees access their earned but unpaid wages when they get into financial emergencies, helping them avoid payday loans, and a variety of other fees and penalties.”
Nov 14, 2016
“Many workers are reluctant to ask for an advance,” says Ulislam. “So by the time they request one, they may be in real trouble. They need the money yesterday, not in four or five days.”
July 6, 2016
How to access your hard-earned money before payday
“This is neither a loan nor an advance. It’s already earned. It’s just a technology solution. We change the frequency or velocity of money,” said Safwan Shah, founder and CEO of Payactiv.
Listen to this NPR Marketplace story
July 4, 2016
New Payday Options for Making Ends Meet
Goodwill is using technology from Payactiv, a start-up in San Jose, Calif., that uses employers’ wage and hours information to estimate their employees’ earnings. For a fee of $5 per transaction — of which Goodwill pays half as a courtesy to its workers — Payactiv advances the cash. On payday, it recoups the money directly from the employer.
Payactiv’s founder, Safwan Shah, talks with a missionary zeal about the potential impact. “The biggest bank in this country is the bank of the employer, and two to three weeks of salary for most people is stuck there,” he said. “This is a corporate responsibility issue.”
May 25, 2016
With Payday Lending Under Fire, These Services Turn Your Employer Into an ATM
New financial technology lets employees draw on a portion of their salary as they earn it. “Is waiting to get paid something that can create forced savings, or does it cause problems for low-income people? We’ve done studies to prove that what we are doing is actually helping people save more.”
May 21, 2016
Two New Employee Benefits Aimed at Millennials
What I found intriguing is that Payactiv would increase the velocity of money in our economy. In Shah’s model, the world’s largest bank resides within corporations, where money that has been earned but not paid out is stored; he estimates that over $100 billion per week is frozen in the U.S. alone.
May 23, 2016
Silicon Valley’s Payactiv promises to be an alternative to “short term, short dollar, predatory lending products” used by 90 million underserved and working poor in the United States.
May 23, 2016
The Best of the Bunch from FinovateSpring
Payactiv disrupts the destructive cycle of payday loans by giving workers access to wages they have already earned but have not yet been paid. The firm also offers a simple mechanism for savings and very comprehensive end-to-end tech.
May 12, 2016
How Payactiv’s Safwan Shah Looks to Eliminate the Vicious Debt Spiral
“I can find 10 solutions to borrow $1,000, $10,000, $5,000 but I can’t find a single good solution in our entire financial eco-system for someone who needs a $100 or $200.”
May 12, 2016
Innovation Comes to Employee Benefits via Payactiv, Student Loan Genius
The dissonance between what you have earned and when it is delivered is painful for employees, and built on an antiquated system — the slow and expensive paycheck. Payactiv users can get the money in their accounts in realtime.
May 3, 2016
Financial Health Is the Next Wellness Frontier
Traditional financial wellness programs that focus mostly on education or retirement planning did nothing to help workers in dire straits, according to hospital Chief Financial Officer Kendall Johnson. So the hospital turned to a unique solution [Payactiv]: allowing employees to take out small advances on their paychecks.
April 4, 2016
Even among Credit Union Employees, Debt Spiral Threatens Financial Wellness
While credit unions, by their very charter, are committed to serving the financial needs of their member communities, a hard reality is that often, the community that is perhaps most important to the health of the credit union itself – its employees – is struggling with achieving financial wellness.
March 23, 2016
Improving Pay Day Timing
Who among us would have imagined that in 2016, virtually every aspect of our personal and business lives is “on-demand” and in “real-time?” Today, we access what we want, customized to our needs, now. To wait is passé, costly even. Instead, aligning time to our needs brings efficiency, transparency and savings.
November 26, 2015
Because the value of the knowledge worker, the value of our understanding of what drives human productivity, all of that is increasing with better studies and data. All of that knowledge is coming into software and technology.
November, 2015
Mobile on-demand access to earned wages
Payactiv’s disruptive business model and industry-leading HR technology are the foundation for a powerful financial wellness program that makes a measurable difference in society.
November 12, 2015
New Budgeting Apps Aim to Disrupt Payday Lending
At a time when the industry is moving toward faster payments, a handful of entrepreneurs are looking to narrow the gap between an honest day’s work and an honest day’s pay.
September 9, 2015
Payactiv, Employee Aid as an Employee Benefit
They [Payactiv] are addressing a problem that for years, decades really, many of us have assumed there are no solutions for. We have accepted them as “the way things work” and never really thought about what could be different. This is an innovative solution to a problem that we have all just accepted.
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