New ADP Money Management Platform Addresses Employer/Employee Needs (July 29, 2013)
July 29, 2013
Payroll card provider ADP is rolling out a new feature for its Paybefore Award-winning ALINE Pay program aimed at aiding employees to better manage their finances, while helping employers improve electronic pay adoption and streamline payroll management. The new myALINE platform, accessible online and via mobile device, provides ALINE Pay cardholders with detailed information about payments and usage, offering spend analysis and transaction-level data to help them make more informed spending decisions by understanding their spending habits, ADP said. On the employer side, self-service access enables workers to update their account information, decreasing administrative costs and streamlining program administration.
Payroll cards have quickly become popular with employers and employees. In 2012, there were 4.6 million active U.S prepaid payroll cards, with a total gross load volume of $34 billion, according to a recent report from Aite Group. Those figures are up sharply from 2010, when there were 3.1 million cards, with $20.9 billion in total load volume. Yet payroll cards were excoriated recently in a New York Times article and are being scrutinized by the N.Y. attorney general and 16 U.S. senators based on what critics claim are high fees and pressure on employees to enroll. But payroll card providers note that the cards can greatly benefit cardholders by serving as a powerful financial tool for those who choose to receive their pay via card, while enabling underbanked workers to save money by avoiding check cashing fees associated with being paid via paper check.
“[I]t is important for employers to provide their employees with the right options when it comes to robust, consumer-friendly means of receiving their pay and to clearly communicate the benefits of those options,” said Gary Lott, division vice president, general manager, wage payments, ADP. Lott tells Paybefore that the myALINE platform enables cardholders to better manage their money by gaining valuable insight into their spending habits while giving employees self-service options to take greater control over their finances.
