AZ Attorney General Concludes Non-Recourse EWA Not A Loan (Podcast)

On December 18, the Arizona Attorney General issued an opinion on earned wage access (EWA), which determined that fully non-recourse EWA products do not constitute consumer loans subject to consumer loan regulations, and correspondingly, that providers of non-recourse EWA products would not be considered consumer lenders subject to licensure under Arizona law. The opinion found that an EWA product could be identified as fully non-recourse when the provider:

• obtains no legal or contractual right to repayment against the employee;
• does not engage in any debt collection activities with regard to any unpaid balance;
• does not sell or assign any unpaid balance to a third party;