InstantWage™ allows employees to instantly* access their earned wages in advance of payday so they aren’t forced to turn to predatory lending products when they are short on cash.
Boca Raton, FL – Cardplatforms® announces it has launched a new on-demand pay feature that will be crucial to the financial health of its clients’ cardholders. Running out of money between paychecks is one of the most common causes of financial stress. Now with InstantWage™, employees can instantly* access their earned but unpaid wages at any time.
“Cardplatforms mission is to deliver solutions to underserved populations and markets, where traditional financial services have failed to provide affordable and convenient options,” said Jeff Foster, Chief Executive Officer, Cardplatforms. “InstantWage is another example of Cardplatforms delivering on that promise. No hardworking employee should have to incur late charges or turn to predatory lenders, that collect billions of dollars in fees, when they can simply access the money they have already earned.”
According to a report by CareerBuilder, 78% of full-time American workers said they are living check-to-check. As a result, any unforeseen expense could cause a financial catastrophe. Until now, consumers were forced to charge a credit card, overdraft their bank account or turn to predatory lending products like payday loans, which charge extremely high fees. In 2015, consumers spent an astounding $141 billion in fees and interest on financial services according to research from the Center for Financial Services Innovation.
What makes this worse is that rather than solving the problem, these products tend to push consumers deeper into debt by forcing them into a vicious cycle of re-borrowing. For example, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) found that more than 80% of payday loans taken out by borrowers were rolled over or re-borrowed within 30 days, incurring additional fees with every renewal.
This financial dilemma is not just a problem for employees. According to a 2010 Federal Reserve study, employee financial stress costs businesses $5,000 per employee, per year in lost productivity.
To solve the problem, InstantWage is transforming payroll to meet the needs of today’s employee. Available exclusively to Cardplatforms’ clients, InstantWage allows businesses to offer their employees instant* access to their earned but unpaid wages. Cardplatforms provides employers with access to funds for an employee’s InstantWage payment, so there is no impact to a business’s cash flow. There is no cost** to the business to offer InstantWage. Once an employer is signed up, all of their employees with earned but unpaid wages are eligible. For a small transaction fee of up to $5, employees can access as much as half of their earned net wages.
What makes InstantWage even more valuable to employees is that it is part of the company’s custom payroll card programs. The payroll cards that Cardplatforms issues on behalf of their clients come with numerous complimentary bonus features — making them a better alternative to a traditional bank account for consumers that don’t want or who can’t qualify for a banking relationship.
To learn more, visit www.cardplatforms.com/Instantwage.
About Cardplatforms
Cardplatforms® delivers impactful payments solutions to underserved populations and markets, where traditional financial services have failed to provide affordable and convenient options. Leveraging a unique blend of industry expertise and proprietary technology, we design and develop white-label solutions for payroll, corporate expenses, incentives, government benefits, legal settlements and insurance claims that are specifically tailored to the needs our partners and their consumers. Our experience navigating an ever-changing payments landscape, combined with the control provided by our Blu Box™ technology platform, allows us to fully customize programs and get them launched faster. Learn more at cardplatforms.com.
**InstantWage provides employers with the funds for employee InstantWage payments. All InstantWage funds and fees pass through the employer’s InstantWage Master Funding Account, so there is no net cost to the employer.