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Instant Financial is tapping virtual card payments to make it easier for employers to pay their workers quickly and securely with its Virtual Paycard. In related news, U.S. Bank is marketing a new embedded service, U.S. Bank Payroll, to help small businesses better manage their payrolls.
Atlanta-based Instant Financial says its Virtual Paycard, an earned wage access service, can send a worker’s paycheck directly to an employee’s digital wallet. With digital-wallet use on the rise, adoption increased in 2024 by 12 points to 48%, according to J.D. Power, Instant Financial says its Virtual Paycard option can be helpful especially with remote and high-turnover employees.
It can be issued immediately during employee onboarding and eliminates the need for a physical card to arrive, though one can be requested. Instant Financial says the Virtual Paycard is compatible with Apple Wallet, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay for contactless use. The virtual card is a Visa debit card. Funds are loaded via an employer-initiated direct deposit or from Instant via a user-initiated earned wage offer being accepted, Instant Financial says. The service does not use the Visa Direct service.
Among the employee benefits are instant access to wages and elimination of physical card shipping. The program does not require an existing bank account. For employers, there’s no need to stock and distribute plastic cards and the program entails fewer fraud and support issues.
Instant Financial says this is one component of its real-time payment service, which also includes digital tipping, earned wage access, and financial-education features.
Meanwhile, U.S. Bank is courting small businesses with a new service to help them manage their payroll. Dubbed U.S. Bank Payroll, the service was built in conjunction with fintech Gusto, a small-business platform for payroll, human resources, and benefits.
Among the services offered by U.S. Bank Payroll is a unified view of payroll, banking, and payments for its business clients. Wages can be paid via check or an automated clearing house transaction and employers can run their payroll just two days prior to payday.
U.S. Bank also launched a cash-flow management platform for small businesses that can help these organizations view and manage their payments and maintain records in one banking dashboard. The bank collaborated with Fiserv Inc. and its CashFlow Central service to build the platform.
