The new payday loans? California poised to become first to regulate cash advance apps

IN MAY, A video featuring a young woman named Brooklyn in heart-shaped glasses implored viewers to tell the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation how important a company named EarnIn was to their day-to-day life.

EarnIn is part of a relatively new app-based industry that provides cash advances to people based on their wages or income, often calling itself “earned wage access.” The company wanted its users to send stories and comments to the department because California is poised to impose new first-in-the-nation rules on the industry.