2020-03-01_Fast_Company

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Illustration BIG IDEA
by Jason Holley

MARCH/APRIL

2020

The Cash

Tra p

A slew of consumer-

facing fintech startups

claim to address the

needs of lower-income

Americans. But in

Silicon Valley, as in Vegas,

the house always wins.

BY AINSLEY HARRIS

Qwatasia has a full-time job as

a fraud analyst in Dallas, where

she works the third shift—

5 p.m. to 2 a.m.—Monday through

Friday. But she finds it difficult to

live on her salary. Sometimes, she’s

short on rent as she waits for her

next paycheck to hit.

Qwatasia got a flat tire a few

months ago. In the past, she might

have put the $187 she needed to

fix it on a credit card reserved for

emergencies. But this time, she

had another option: a cash ad vance

from Dave, a banking app devel-

oped by a Silicon Valley startup

that endears itself to users with

help from its cartoon mascot, a

bespectacled bear.

“Dave helped me out, because

I could set a date when I would

pay him back,” Qwatasia tells

me—then corrects herself. “Pay

the app back.” She adds, “I’m the

type of person who doesn’t like to

ask family. You’ve got to stand on

your own two feet.”