I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7428 

To regulate the business of offering and providing earned wage access services 

to consumers, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

FEBRUARY 20, 2024 

Mr. STEIL (for himself and Mr. HILL) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To regulate the business of offering and providing earned 

wage access services to consumers, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Earned Wage Access 

5 Consumer Protection Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 

8 (1) BUREAU.—The term ‘‘Bureau’’ means the 

9 Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. 


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1 (2) CONSUMER.—The term ‘‘consumer’’ means 

2 a natural person. 

3 (3) CONSUMER-DIRECTED WAGE ACCESS SERV4 ICES.—The term ‘‘consumer-directed wage access 

5 services’’ means offering or providing earned wage 

6 access services directly to consumers based on the 

7 consumer’s representations and the provider’s rea8 sonable determination of the consumer’s earned but 

9 unpaid income. 

10 (4) DEBT COLLECTOR.—The term ‘‘debt col11 lector’’ has the meaning given that term under sec12 tion 803 of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act 

13 (15 U.S.C. 1692a). 

14 (5) EARNED BUT UNPAID INCOME.—The term 

15 ‘‘earned but unpaid income’’ means salary, wages, 

16 compensation, or other income that a consumer or 

17 an employer has represented, and that a provider 

18 has reasonably determined, have been earned or 

19 have accrued to the benefit of the consumer in ex20 change for the consumer’s provision of services to 

21 the employer or on behalf of the employer, including 

22 on an hourly, project-based, piecework, or other 

23 basis and including where the consumer is acting as 

24 an independent contractor of the employer, but have 


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1 not, at the time of the payment of proceeds, been 

2 paid to the consumer by an employer. 

3 (6) EARNED WAGE ACCESS SERVICES.—The 

4 term ‘‘earned wage access services’’ means the busi5 ness of providing consumer-directed wage access 

6 services or employer-integrated wage access services, 

7 or both at the request of an employee. 

8 (7) EMPLOYER.— 

9 (A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘‘employer’’ 

10 means a person who— 

11 (i) employs a consumer; or 

12 (ii) any other person who is contrac13 tually obligated to pay a consumer earned 

14 but unpaid income in exchange for the con15 sumer’s provision of services to the em16 ployer or on behalf of the employer, includ17 ing on an hourly, project-based, piecework, 

18 or other basis and including where the con19 sumer is acting as an independent con20 tractor with respect to the employer. 

21 (B) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘‘employer’’ 

22 does not include— 

23 (i) a customer of an employer or any 

24 other person whose obligation to make a 

25 payment of salary, wages, compensation, or 


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1 other income to a consumer is not based 

2 on the provision of services by that con3 sumer for or on behalf of such person; or 

4 (ii) a third-party service provider con5 tracted by the employer to distribute in6 come to consumers, including on demand 

7 pay for earned but unpaid income re8 quested by the consumer, on behalf of the 

9 employer at no fee to the consumer. 

10 (8) EMPLOYER-INTEGRATED WAGE ACCESS

11 SERVICES.—The term ‘‘employer-integrated wage ac12 cess services’’ means the business of delivering to 

13 consumers access to earned but unpaid income that 

14 is based on employment, income, or attendance data 

15 obtained directly or indirectly from an employer. 

16 (9) FEE.—The term ‘‘fee’’ means— 

17 (A) a fee imposed by a provider for deliv18 ery or expedited delivery of proceeds to a con19 sumer; 

20 (B) a subscription or membership fee im21 posed by a provider for a bona fide group of 

22 services that include earned wage access serv23 ices; and 


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1 (C) does not include a voluntary tip, gra2 tuity, or other donation paid by a consumer to 

3 a provider. 

4 (10) OUTSTANDING PROCEEDS.—The term 

5 ‘‘outstanding proceeds’’ means a payment of pro6 ceeds to a consumer by a provider, which has not yet 

7 been repaid to that provider. 

8 (11) PROCEEDS.—The term ‘‘proceeds’’ means 

9 a payment to a consumer by a provider, which is 

10 based on earned but unpaid income. 

11 (12) PROVIDER.—The term ‘‘provider’’— 

12 (A) means a person who is in the business 

13 of providing earned wage access services to con14 sumers; and 

15 (B) does not include— 

16 (i) a service provider (such as a pay17 roll service provider) whose role may in18 clude verifying a consumer’s available 

19 earnings but that is not contractually obli20 gated to fund proceeds delivered as part of 

21 an earned wage access service; 

22 (ii) an employer that offers a portion 

23 of salary, wages, or compensation directly 

24 to its employees or independent contractors 

25 prior to the normally scheduled pay date; 


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1 (iii) a financial institution (as such 

2 term is defined in section 20 of title 18, 

3 United States Code) when it permits cus4 tomers to access amounts associated with 

5 an electronic funds transaction for which 

6 the financial institution has received infor7 mation but which has not yet settled; and 

8 (iv) a payroll service provider that fa9 cilitates payments to workers of earned, 

10 available wage balances in accordance with 

11 Federal, State, and local law, including the 

12 Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938. 

13 SEC. 3. NON-DISCRIMINATION. 

14 It shall be unlawful for any provider to discriminate 

15 against any consumer, with respect to any aspect of a 

16 transaction on the basis of race, color, religion, national 

17 origin, sex, pregnancy, marital status, or age (provided the 

18 consumer has the capacity to contract). 

19 SEC. 4. REQUIREMENTS APPLICABLE TO PROVIDERS. 

20 (a) DISPUTE POLICY.—Each provider shall develop 

21 and implement policies and procedures to respond to con22 sumer disputes and questions raised by consumers. 

23 (b) NON-RECOURSE PAYMENTS.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—A provider may not compel 

25 or attempt to compel repayment by a consumer of 


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1 outstanding proceeds, fees, voluntary tips, gratuities, 

2 or other donations to that provider through— 

3 (A) a civil suit or arbitration proceeding 

4 against the consumer; 

5 (B) use of a third party to pursue collec6 tion of outstanding proceeds, fees, voluntary 

7 tips, gratuities, or other donations on the pro8 vider’s behalf; or 

9 (C) the sale of outstanding amounts to a 

10 third-party collector or debt buyer for collection 

11 from the consumer. 

12 (2) FRAUD EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall 

13 not apply to repayment of outstanding amounts ob14 tained by a consumer through fraudulent means or 

15 preclude a provider from pursuing an employer for 

16 breach of its contractual obligations to the provider. 

17 (c) DISCLOSURES TO CONSUMERS.—Each provider 

18 shall— 

19 (1) before entering into an agreement with a 

20 consumer for the provision of earned wage access 

21 services— 

22 (A) inform the consumer of his or her 

23 rights under the agreement; and 

24 (B) fully and clearly disclose all fees asso25 ciated with the earned wage access services; and 


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1 (2) inform a consumer of the fact of any mate2 rial changes to the terms and conditions of the 

3 earned wage access services before implementing 

4 those changes for that consumer. 

5 (d) FORM OF PROCEEDS.—A provider shall provide 

6 proceeds to a consumer through a process mutually agreed 

7 upon between the consumer and provider. 

8 (e) RULES FOR ACCESSING DEPOSIT ACCOUNTS.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—A provider that seeks repay10 ment of outstanding proceeds, fees, voluntary tips, 

11 gratuities, or other donations from a consumer’s de12 posit account, including via electronic transfer, 

13 shall— 

14 (A) comply with applicable provisions of 

15 the Electronic Fund Transfer Act and its im16 plementing regulations; and 

17 (B) reimburse the consumer for the full 

18 amount of any overdraft or non-sufficient funds 

19 fees imposed on a consumer by the consumer’s 

20 depository institution that were caused by the 

21 provider attempting to seek payment of any 

22 outstanding proceeds, fees, or other payments 

23 in connection with the activities covered by this 

24 Act, including voluntary tips, gratuities, or 

25 other donations, on a date before, or in an inVerDate Sep 11 2014 22:46 Feb 23, 2024 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7428.IH H7428

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1 correct amount from, the date or amount dis2 closed to the consumer. 

3 (2) FRAUD EXCEPTION.—Paragraph (1) shall 

4 not apply to payments of outstanding proceeds, fees, 

5 or other amounts obtained by a consumer through 

6 fraudulent or other unlawful means. 

7 (f) CANCELING PARTICIPATION IN AN EARNED WAGE

8 ACCESS SERVICE.—A provider that makes earned wage 

9 access services available to a consumer on a recurring 

10 basis shall allow that consumer to discontinue receiving 

11 future services upon reasonable notice without imposing 

12 a financial penalty on that consumer. 

13 (g) LIMITATIONS RELATED TO FEES AND OTHER

14 PAYMENTS.— 

15 (1) A provider may not— 

16 (A) share with an employer any proceeds 

17 fees, voluntary tips, gratuities, or other dona18 tions that were received from or charged to a 

19 consumer for earned wage access services; 

20 (B) accept payment of outstanding pro21 ceeds, fees, voluntary tips, gratuities, or other 

22 donations from a consumer via credit card or 

23 charge card, unless such credit card or charge 

24 card is provided to the consumer as a part of 

25 the earned wage access service; or 


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1 (C) charge a late fee, deferral fee, interest, 

2 or any other penalty or charge for failure to 

3 pay outstanding proceeds, fees, voluntary tips, 

4 gratuities, or other donations. 

5 (2) A provider may, when contractually re6 quired, disclose to an employer the date of a trans7 action associated with earned wage access services. 

8 (h) VOLUNTARY NATURE OF TIPS, GRATUITIES, AND

9 OTHER DONATIONS.—If a provider solicits, charges, or re10 ceives a tip, gratuity, or other donation from a consumer, 

11 the provider shall— 

12 (1) clearly and conspicuously disclose to the 

13 consumer immediately prior to each transaction that 

14 a tip, gratuity, or other donation amount may be 

15 zero and is voluntary; 

16 (2) clearly and conspicuously disclose in its 

17 agreement with the consumer that tips, gratuities, or 

18 donations are voluntary and that the offering of 

19 earned wage access services, including the amount of 

20 proceeds a consumer is eligible to request and the 

21 frequency with which proceeds are provided to a con22 sumer, is not contingent on whether the consumer 

23 pays any tip, gratuity, or other donation or on the 

24 size of the tip, gratuity, or other donation; 


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1 (3) refrain from misleading or deceiving con2 sumers about the voluntary nature of such tips, gra3 tuities, or other donations; and 

4 (4) refrain from representing that tips, gratu5 ities, or other donations will benefit any specific in6 dividuals. 

7 (i) CONSUMER DISPUTE DEFINED.—In this section, 

8 the term ‘‘consumer dispute’’ means an allegation by a 

9 consumer that— 

10 (1) a payment of proceeds was— 

11 (A) not authorized; 

12 (B) in the incorrect amount; or 

13 (C) not received; 

14 (2) a repayment of proceeds was— 

15 (A) in the incorrect amount; or 

16 (B) not received; or 

17 (3) a fee, tip, gratuity, or other donation was— 

18 (A) not authorized; or 

19 (B) in the incorrect amount. 

20 SEC. 5. BUREAU AUTHORITY TO PROMULGATE REGULA21 TIONS APPLICABLE TO PROVIDERS. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Bureau shall 

23 have authority to regulate the provision of earned wage 

24 access services by providers. 


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1 (b) DEFINITION OF ENUMERATED CONSUMER

2 LAWS.—Section 1002(12) of the Consumer Financial Pro3 tection Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. 5481(12)) is amended— 

4 (1) in subparagraph (Q), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

5 the end; 

6 (2) in subparagraph (R), by striking the period 

7 at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

8 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(S) the Earned Wage Access Consumer 

10 Protection Act.’’. 

11 SEC. 6. APPLICATION OF TRUTH IN LENDING ACT. 

12 Proceeds provided to a consumer in compliance with 

13 this Act shall not be considered consumer credit, for pur14 poses of section 1602(f) of title 15, United States Code, 

15 and the provider of those proceeds shall not be considered 

16 a creditor for purposes of section 1602(g) of such title. 

17 Fees, tips, gratuities, and donations paid by a consumer 

18 to a provider shall not be considered finance charges for 

19 purposes of section 1605(a) of such title. 

20 SEC. 7. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

21 Nothing in this Act, or the amendments made by this 

22 Act, may be construed to supercede any other requirement 

23 on a financial institution or employer found in Federal 

24 law. 

Æ 


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