An earned wage access (EWA) law has gone into effect in Louisiana. The legislation, passed earlier this year, became law without the signature of Gov. Jeff Landry.
The legislation's sponsor, state Rep. Vinney St. Blanc told the Louisiana Radio Network that if you're a health care provider or a nurse and your child breaks his arm, "I have something. You can go right to EWA. It's like an ATM."
He told the network that about 80,000 workers in Louisiana have access to EWA services.
"So we put in guardrails to the program that wasn't in there. We did something for the working people," St. Blanc said.
Under the law, EWA providers must develop and implement policies for responding to questions raised by consumers and for addressing complaints.
The law requires that before EWA providers offer services to a consumer, they must clearly disclose all fees. In addition, the law states that providers must allow consumers to cancel the EWA services at any time, without incurring a fee.
In instances where an EWA provider provides a consumer the option to receive proceeds for a fee or solicits a tip, gratuity or other donation, the law requires that the EWA provider must also provide a reasonable option to the consumer to obtain the same amount at no cost.
Under the law, a provider may not compel the repayment by a consumer of outstanding proceeds, fees or other donations by:
- Initiating a civil suit.
- Making unsolicited telephone calls.
- Using a third party to pursue collection of outstanding proceeds.
- Selling outstanding amounts to a third-party debt collector or debt purchaser.
In addition, an EWA provider may not require a consumer's credit score from a credit report to determine a consumer's eligibilty for EWA services.
Providers also may not charge late fees, deferral fees, interest or other charges for a consumer's nonpayment of outstanding proceeds, fees, interest or tips.
The law also requires that EWA providers file an annual report with the state Office of Financial Institutions.
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