DE: AFC Testimony in Support of SB137

American Fintech Council Testimony
TO: Delaware Senate Banking, Business, Insurance & Technology Committee
FROM: Ashley Urisman, Director-State Government Affairs, American Fintech Council (AFC)
DATE: June 18, 2025
SUBJECT: SB 137

Position: Support

Testimony:

Thank you Chair Mantzavinos, Vice Chair Paradee, and members of the Senate Banking, Business, Insurance & Technology Committee. For the record, my name is Ashley Urisman, I am the Director of State Government Affairs for the American Fintech Council (AFC), and I am testifying this afternoon in support of SB 137.

AFC is the premier trade association representing the leading financial technology companies, including providers of Earned Wage Access (EWA) services. AFC’s mission is to promote a transparent, inclusive, and customer-centric financial system. A core part of our mission is supporting responsible innovation and sound public policy in Finical Services.

EWA is a relatively new financial technology (“fintech”) product that gives workers access to the money they have already earned in a pay period before their scheduled payday. While each EWA provider operates a little differently, EWA providers leverage technology to reasonably determine the amount of earned but unpaid wages a user will be offered.

Over 100,000 working Delawareans have already used EWA products, but unfortunately, EWA remains unregulated the First State. SB 137 seeks to change that. The bill requires that EWA providers be licensed by the Office of the State Bank Commissioner.

As a new and distinct financial product, EWA must be governed by new and distinct regulations. To ensure that providers safely and effectively serve consumers, AFC has established clear standards on what constitutes a responsible EWA product. Our standards require that

• A reasonable no-cost option be made available for all users;

• All voluntary fees and charges be disclosed in clearly and transparently;

• Users are never charged interest or late fees on any EWA transactions;

• EWA transactions are credit invisible, no credit checks are required for a user to receive their earned wages;

• EWA transactions are non-recourse and can be canceled at any time; meaning they do not have to be repaid, and failure to repay will not be reported to credit agencies or be referred to collections.

We believe the guardrails and licensure requirements set forth in SB 137 reflect our standards. These standards, and the provisions of the bill also differentiate EWA from traditional credit products like loans and credit cards which do charge interest, late fees and impact consumers’ credit scores.

Thank you again for the opportunity to offer our support for SB 137. I am happy to answer any questions you may have.

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