美国国家公共电台 NPR Walmart And Others Offer Workers Payday Loan Alternative

 

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

To another story now. Forty percent of Americans don't have $400 to cover emergency expenses such as car repairs. Some people turn to payday loans or other costly¹ ways to borrow money. But now, as NPR's Chris Arnold reports, companies are stepping in to help their workers with a much cheaper way to get some emergency cash.

CHRIS ARNOLD, BYLINE²: More companies these days are offering this kind of help from giants like Walmart down to little fried chicken restaurants.

KEITH BROWN: This is where it all happens. This is the kitchen here.

ARNOLD: Keith Brown is a cook at Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken in Richmond, Va. He and the crew are gearing³ up for the lunchtime rush.

BROWN: What he's doing there is flouring the chicken up. It's called the famous chicken.

ARNOLD: The restaurant owner, Henry Loving, noticed over the years that many of his workers here were getting burned - not with fry oil but by high-cost loans that they'd get stuck in.

HENRY LOVING: You know, a lot of times the folks that I have working for me are tight on money and, you know, go out and do payday loans or something like that. And by the time I get wind of it, it's too late. They're in all kinds of extra hard trouble trying to get that paid off.

ARNOLD: Keith Brown, the cook, remembers a few years ago his brother was in the hospital, and he needed to get to New York to see him. So he took out a high-interest payday loan for $400.

BROWN: I got the loan, but it kept me in the hole. I had to continue to get loans maybe for about three or four months to pay it back. And when I finished paying it, I ended up paying double the money that I had got. I actually paid more than $900 back before it was over.

ARNOLD: Henry Loving, the owner, says sometimes he'd loan employees money himself just to get them out from under these loans.

LOVING: And they are embarrassed to ask, but they'll come to me and - I mean, otherwise they'll end up homeless or have to move out of state.

ARNOLD: But then he heard about a company called PayActiv. It's a tech startup that helps businesses to get their workers emergency cash for very small fees. And he signed up. Safwan Shah is the founder⁴ of PayActiv. He says the need out there is huge with so many Americans paying really high fees in interest when they're short of cash.

SAFWAN SHAH: Our data analysis showed that it was close to $150 a month being paid by the working poor - poor employee or poor hourly worker in this country. That's a substantial⁵ sum of money because it's about $1,800 to $2,000 a year.

ARNOLD: And Shah realized that often people don't need to borrow very much money, and he says actually workers have usually already earned the cash that they need by working enough hours. They just hadn't been paid yet.

SHAH: So we said the problem is really a between paychecks problem.

ARNOLD: So his PayActiv company lets workers get access to that money that they've already earned. Workers at many companies now, including Walmart, download an app to their phone and that's linked to the employer's payroll⁶ system.

SHAH: So if they've worked, you know, nine days and they got to $100 each day, so let's say they've already earned $900 but payroll is still five days away. So they will see a number which is half of the amount they have earned that is accessible to them.

ARNOLD: So if they need that $400 for a car repair or a trip to visit a sick brother, they tap a few buttons, and the money gets zapped to their checking account or a prepaid card. And the fee is $5, which sounds a lot better than getting stuck in a cycle of debt with costly payday loans. The app also has some creative ways to nudge employees to build up a savings⁷ account so that they're not chronically⁸ strapped⁹ for cash.

LAURA SCHERLER: I really think it's game-changing.

ARNOLD: Laura Scherler is a director for economic mobility¹⁰ at the United Way. She says some other companies work with employers to offer workers actual loans - so more than just an advance on hours that they'd already worked. Consumer advocates say employers should be careful here to make sure that their workers are getting a good deal. But Scherler says there are good lower costs loan options.

SCHERLER: There seems to be a couple of things coming together right now that make this really exciting. I think employers are increasingly aware that financial stress impacts their workers.

ARNOLD: More than 100 companies have now signed up with PayActiv. A Walmart executive¹¹ says there has been a, quote, "extraordinary response" from employees and more than 200,000 Walmart workers are now using the system. Chris Arnold, NPR News.

1 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 gearing   

n.传动装置

参考例句：

• The Department is gearing up for increased intake of students. 这个系正在为扩大招生做好准备。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• However perhaps the biggest change is to gearing. 当然最大的改动也许是生产效率模式(gearing)。 来自互联网

4 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

5 substantial   

adj.大的，相当可观的，大体上的

参考例句：

• She is preparing a substantial meal against his return.她正在准备一顿丰盛的饭菜为他接风。
• The country bought a substantial number of weapons.这个国家购买了大量武器。

6 payroll   

n.工资表，在职人员名单，工薪总额

参考例句：

• His yearly payroll is $1.2 million.他的年薪是120万美元。
• I can't wait to get my payroll check.我真等不及拿到我的工资单了。

7 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

8 chronically   

ad.长期地

参考例句：

• Similarly, any pigment nevus that is chronically irritated should be excised. 同样，凡是经常受慢性刺激的各种色素痣切勿予以切除。
• People chronically exposed to chlorine develop some degree of tolerance. 人长期接触氯气可以产生某种程度的耐受性。

9 strapped   

adj.用皮带捆住的，用皮带装饰的；身无分文的；缺钱；手头紧v.用皮带捆扎(strap的过去式和过去分词)；用皮带抽打；包扎；给…打绷带

参考例句：

• Make sure that the child is strapped tightly into the buggy. 一定要把孩子牢牢地拴在婴儿车上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The soldiers' great coats were strapped on their packs. 战士们的厚大衣扎捆在背包上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。

11 executive   

adj.执行的，行政的；n.执行者，行政官，经理

参考例句：

• A good executive usually gets on well with people.一个好的高级管理人员通常与人们相处得很好。
• He is a man of great executive ability.他是个具有极高管理能力的人。