The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued an advisory opinion (AO), rescinding its 2024 proposed interpretive rule and clarifying the regulatory treatment of certain earned wage access (EWA) services. In the AO, the CFPB analyzes whether nonrecourse EWA services are subject to the Truth in Lending Act (TILA) and its implementing Regulation Z and confirms that certain employer-partnered EWA services are not “credit” under that statute and rule. The AO also makes clear that other types of EWA may not be “credit.” Finally, the AO clarifies that EWA-related expedited delivery fees and tips are generally not “finance charges” if they are optional.
The AO seeks to resolve long-standing uncertainty created by the now-withdrawn proposed interpretive rule as to whether EWA providers are subject to TILA and Regulation Z.
EWA services
EWA services provide consumers with access to earned but unpaid wages between paychecks. There are two primary EWA models: employer‑partnered (EP) and direct‑to‑consumer (D2C). EP providers typically partner with employers to offer workers access to amounts not exceeding accrued wages, recoup amounts via the payroll process and claim no recourse against the worker. D2C providers generally offer access to amounts estimated to be below accrued wages, debit accessed amounts from the worker’s deposit account that receives their paycheck and claim no recourse against the worker.
The CFPB’s recently published AO focuses on “Covered EWA” services, defined as EWA arrangements meeting all the following criteria:
- The amount a user can access cannot be more than the wages they have already earned, based on payroll data (and not estimates or information from the worker).
- The provider recoups funds through a payroll deduction the next payday, not by debiting from the user’s regular bank account after wages are paid.
- Before the transaction, the EWA provider discloses it has no legal or contractual claim or remedy against the user if the payroll deduction is insufficient to cover the full amount of the EWA transaction and will not send any amounts to debt collection or report to a credit reporting agency.
- The provider does not assess the credit risk of individual workers (through either credit reports or credit scores).
Regulatory background
In a 2020 advisory opinion, the CFPB under the first Trump administration stated that certain employer-partnered EWA services did not meet the definition of “credit” under TILA because they did not involve the “right to defer payment of debt or to incur debt and defer its payment.”[1] The AO applied to employer-based EWA services that met certain conditions but did not address whether other forms of EWA, like D2C, were “credit.”[2]
In 2024, the CFPB issued a proposed interpretive rule that would have treated all EWA services as “credit” under TILA and classified certain delivery fees and tips as “finance charges.” The CFPB did not finalize the proposed interpretive rule. Instead, in January 2025, it rescinded the 2020 AO. Thereafter, in May 2025, the CFPB wiped the slate clean by withdrawing both the 2020 AO and the 2025 rescission.
What the new AO says
In the new AO, the CFPB clarifies that Covered EWA services are not “credit” under Regulation Z and that, regardless of whether an EWA service is “credit,” expedited delivery fees and tips are not generally finance charges under Regulation Z.
Notably, the CFPB makes clear that, under the AO, non-Covered EWA services are not necessarily credit under Regulation Z – i.e., that other types of EWA, such as D2C, can also fall outside of TILA and Regulation Z.
Covered EWA is not credit
According to the CFPB, Covered EWA, and potentially other types of EWA services, are not “credit” because they do not create the right to defer payment of debt or to incur debt and defer its payment.[3] There is no “debt” owed by the user because the user does not owe any money to the EWA provider; instead, users access already earned wages to which they are entitled, verified via payroll, and the provider recoups the amount through the next paycheck rather than debiting the user’s bank account after payday. The CFPB asserts that this reconciliation avoids any deferred repayment and functions as an early wage payment, and therefore, Covered EWA services are not subject to Regulation Z.
Expedited delivery fees and tips are not finance charges
A “finance charge” is “the cost of consumer credit as a dollar amount.”[4] According to the CFPB, fees charged in connection with Covered EWA services are not “finance charges” because Covered EWA itself is not credit. For non-Covered EWA services, the CFPB states that optional expedited delivery fees and tips are generally not finance charges because they are not “imposed” by the provider.
With respect to expedited delivery fees, the CFPB states that such fees are not finance charges when a reasonable, no‑fee delivery option (e.g., standard Automated Clearing House, or ACH) is available and the consumer chooses faster delivery. If a fee to receive wages more quickly is required by an EWA provider, it could be deemed a finance charge.
The CFPB also states that tips are not finance charges when they are bona fide, voluntary gratuities. The CFPB cautions that if interface design makes tipping difficult to decline, a tip may be deemed imposed and treated as a finance charge based on the particular facts and circumstances.
What’s next
The new AO provides welcome clarity to EWA providers about the potential applicability of TILA and Regulation Z. This AO may just be the start of EWA guidance, as the CFPB notes that it continues to seek feedback from stakeholders to determine if it should take additional regulatory action regarding non-Covered EWA services or to the applicability of other laws and regulations besides Regulation Z.
We also note that, increasingly, states are regulating EWA services by requiring providers to obtain a license or registration to operate or to abide by various compliance obligations. Providers should evaluate state EWA requirements independently of this CFPB AO.
[1] 12 CFR § 1026.2(a)(14).
[2] https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/cfpb_advisory-opinion_earned-wage-access_2020-11.pdf. These conditions included: 1. Providing the consumer with no more than the amount of accrued wages earned. 2. Provision by a third party that is fully integrated with the employer. 3. No consumer payment, voluntary or otherwise, beyond recovery of paid amounts via a payroll deduction from the consumer’s next paycheck. 4. No other recourse or collection activity of any kind. 5. No underwriting or credit reporting.
[3] 12 CFR § 1026.2(a)(14).
[4] Id. § 1026.4(a).