New York Times Highlights Payactiv

Payactiv was proud to be included in a NY Times article on October 2, 2020. We thank Tara Siegel Bernard for covering the area of earned wage access and asking our co-founder and CEO, Safwan Shah, for a quote. Here are excerpts from the piece:

And many customers see them as lifelines…

“It wasn’t like a loan to a bank,” said Ms. Ayala-Spain, who sometimes worked 50-hour weeks before the pandemic, loading and unloading baggage, mail and medical equipment from airplanes. “You don’t have to pay interest.”…

The appeal is obvious: For a few dollars or less, users can cover a bill that comes due in the middle of a pay cycle or get cash for an unexpected expense, like a wildfire or hurricane evacuation. By tapping their earned but unpaid income early, they can avoid overdraft fees, late charges or worse — more predatory lenders. And come payday, the advance is repaid from their bank account or directly from their paycheck….

“I cannot change the level of salary, but what I can change is the timing,” said Safwan Shah, founder and chief executive of Payactiv, which added 410 employers as clients from March to August — more than double the additions a year earlier.”