Clair partners with Mastercard to launch financial products for hourly workers

By Pavithra R

New York-based Clair, a social FinTech that provides Instant Pay Access as a Service for human capital management (HCM) and gig platforms to allow workers to get paid faster, has announced partnering with Mastercard to provide financial wellness for America’s 82 mn non-exempt workers, building on both the companies’ shared mission to foster a more inclusive digital economy.

Under the collaboration, users who sign up for Clair will receive the Clair Debit Mastercard, which hourly workers can take advantage of, to access their free daily wage advances. These advances have no interest payments or other fees and are based on the hours they’ve worked each day. The service can be leveraged anywhere Mastercard debit is accepted via Tap & Go contactless payments and make no fee cash withdrawals at more than 55,000+ ATMs worldwide.

“We’re pleased to see Clair through this next phase of growth with this new offering and look forward to our continued partnership to meet the needs of the hourly worker segment through flexible and innovative payments technology,” said Sherri Haymond, executive vice president, Digital Partnerships at Mastercard.

The partnership enables Clair to provide wage advances free of charge to both employers and employees. Clair users will not have to pay membership or inactivity charges, giving them complete transparency and control over their finances. Leveraging Mastercard technology, Clair plans to continue developing new financial products for the hard-to-reach hourly worker community.

“Hourly workers are the backbone of our economy –– they shouldn’t have to wait two weeks to get paid, or face eye-watering fees to get advances or loans. By partnering with Mastercard, who shares our mission to make financial products accessible, we’re working to transform the financial wellbeing of America’s 82 million hourly workers and giving them the tools they need to build brighter futures,” said Nico Simko, CEO and Co-Founder of Clair.

Founded in 2019, Clair is built with the mission to make every worker financially free. The FinTech believes that financial freedom is the first step to living a more empowered life. In October 2020, the firm raised $4.5mn to disrupt the payday lending industry.