‘The app’s like candy’: how Wagestream borrowers felt trapped

Users of the salary advance service marketed by their employers say it was all too easy to slip into debt

• Financial wellbeing' app targets low-wage workers with high-interest loans

When Andy, a server in Pizza Express, found himself in financial hot water before payday, getting a cheap advance on his wages was easy. Pizza Express, like hundreds of other employers with low-wage workers - including Asda, Next, Superdrug, Burger King and a number of NHS trusts - had struck a deal with the financial wellbeing" app Wagestream, giving workers access to a suite of services including its key moneymaker: salary advance.

For just 1.75 per withdrawal, Andy could take up to half of his wages early, with the agreement that he merely gave up the sum at payday. But the cheap, easy-to-use service meant he was soon falling behind.