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pr-header"><div id="w-node-_54194475-6544-a4b2-2e0f-403c69bd6195-76ca3dee" class="single-page-meta-wrap"><p class="pr-publish-date">November 19, 2024</p><div class="pr-immediate-release-wrap"><div class="pr-immediate-release w-richtext"><p>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE</p><p>Contact: <a href="mailto:Press@FintechCouncil.org">Press@FintechCouncil.org</a></p><p>‍</p></div></div></div><div id="w-node-_54194475-6544-a4b2-2e0f-403c69bd6199-76ca3dee" class="single-page-button-wrap pr-spbw"><a href="/press-release-index" class="afc-back-button black w-button">BACK</a></div></div><div class="pr-body-wrap"><h2 class="pr-body-title">Statement from American Fintech Council (AFC) Chief Executive Officer, Phil Goldfeder, on Regulatory Action Targeting Earned Wage Access (EWA) Providers</h2><div class="pr-body-description-wrap"><div class="pr-body-description w-richtext"><p>"Simply put, EWA is not a loan, and should not be regulated as such. It bears no hallmarks of a traditional lending product – it offers a no-cost option and is a non-recourse tool providing millions of Americans with safe, convenient access to wages they have already earned. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) came to this conclusion nearly four years ago, which allowed a host of responsible innovators to offer additional financial flexibility to consumers who may otherwise be pushed to predatory financial products like payday loans. It is these exact consumers – who are underbanked or have little to no credit history – that will be most harmed by efforts to reclassify EWA. AFC strongly objects to any legal, legislative, or regulatory action that seeks to erroneously classify EWA as a loan product and limit access to this safe, innovative financial product for the consumers who need it the most."</p></div></div><div class="pr-body-share-wrap"><div class="pr-social-icon-wrap"><a fs-socialshare-element="Facebook" href="#" class="pr-social-icon-link w-inline-block"><img src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/65f8444971cd47495049b747/660316f9b604e923834ac8bb_facebook%20(2).svg" loading="lazy" id="afc-pr-fb-share" alt="" class="pr-social-icon"/></a><a fs-socialshare-element="LinkedIn" href="#" class="pr-social-icon-link w-inline-block"><img src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/65f8444971cd47495049b747/660316f9f4e456f31f193ad8_linkedin%20(1).svg" loading="lazy" id="afc-pr-in-share" alt="" class="pr-social-icon"/></a></div></div><div class="pr-body-about-wrap w-condition-invisible"><div class="pr-body-description w-dyn-bind-empty w-richtext"></div></div></div></div></div></section><section class="afc-section afc-footer"><div class="w-layout-blockcontainer afc-container w-container"><div class="afc-content-wrap"><div class="afc-footer-top"><div id="w-node-b579b5c5-9dd3-1f00-d0c0-fb968134c755-8134c751" class="footer-grid-col"><a href="/" class="footer-logo-wrap w-inline-block"><img src="https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/65f8444971cd47495049b747/65fd5be4e472e74dee1297a2_AFC%20Icon%20White.webp" loading="lazy" alt="" class="footer-logo"/></a><p class="footer-general-info">For General Inquiries <br/><a href="mailto:info@FintechCouncil.org" class="footer-general-info-link">info@FintechCouncil.org</a></p><p class="footer-general-info">For Media Inquiries <br/><a href="mailto:press@FintechCouncil.org" class="footer-general-info-link">press@FintechCouncil.org</a></p></div><div id="w-node-b579b5c5-9dd3-1f00-d0c0-fb968134c762-8134c751" class="footer-grid-col-wrap"><div id="w-node-b579b5c5-9dd3-1f00-d0c0-fb968134c763-8134c751" class="footer-grid-col"><div class="footer-form-block w-form"><form id="wf-form-Subscription-Form" name="wf-form-Subscription-Form" data-name="Subscription Form" method="get" class="footer-form" data-wf-page-id="6601aef82d8c3b7576ca3dee" data-wf-element-id="b579b5c5-9dd3-1f00-d0c0-fb968134c765" data-turnstile-sitekey="0x4AAAAAAAQTptj2So4dx43e"><label for="email-2" class="footer-form-field-lebel">Subscribe to AFC Newswrap</label><div class="footer-form-wrapper"><input class="footer-form-field w-input" maxlength="256" name="email-2" data-name="Email 2" placeholder="Email" type="email" id="email-2" required=""/><input type="submit" data-wait="Please wait..." class="footer-form-submit w-button" value="Subscribe"/></div></form><div class="footer-form-success w-form-done"><div>Thank you! 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