Regulators are set to clarify rules for the services.

DailyPay delivers what its name promises.

If you wait a day or so, the transaction is free.

To get your cash right away, you have to pay a $3 fee.

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Ryan typically can’t wait.

Still, the DailyPay fee represents a toll on his total compensation, he says.

“But people can’t afford to wait.”

Ryan isn’t the only hourly worker using an employer-provided app to tap wages between paychecks.

Major companies, including Walmart, McDonald’s and the parent of Outback Steakhouse, offer them as benefits.

Some apps, like Even, charge a subscription fee each month.

Others, like the FlexWage app, charge a fee for each transaction.

The popularity of these apps seems set to grow.

Almost a third of households didn’t have enough emergency funds saved tocover an unexpected $400 expensein 2021.

The company considers more than 50 million Americans earning $60,000 or less a year as potential users.

The apps are an evolution of long-established patterns for the lowest paid Americans.

Advocates have called on the agency to reconsider that stance, which it hasagreed to clarify.

“We’re changing the way people are paid,” said Instant Financial CEOTal Clark.

“We’re trying to do it in a responsible way.”

Earnin says it’s not a form of credit.

Still, Palaniappan says, the company is open to regulation to put “guardrails” on the industry.

“It’s ten times better and more friendly than traditional overdraft,” he said.

The company isfacing a lawsuitover an allegeddata breach of a third party servicethat processed Dave customer information.

Wilk declined to comment on ongoing litigation.

Even, the app that Walmart offers its workers, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

Plenty of workers find access to wages through the apps a benefit.

Ulberg says she was so grateful, she bought her co-worker a $10 gift card to thank her.

“It makes me aware of what my paycheck is doing,” Ulberg said.

The company pays for the cost of a subscription, meaning workers get all of their pay.

Starbucks, REI, Target storesand Amazon warehousesare all facing union pushes, with higher wages a key demand.

In his store, he says he’s seen pay increases come in increments of 8 to 30 cents.

Inflation has also cut the value of those raises significantly, he says.

She acknowledges that earned-wage access apps can’t overcome outside forces, like historic inflation.