Cash advance loans are nothing new in the history of paid work. An easy cash advance was when employees could ask their employer for a portion of the next paycheck days or weeks before payday. But that was in a simpler place and time. More recently, a check cash advance came through a third-party, such as a retailer that provided cash advance services.
But that required traveling, parking, supplying documents, then receiving a check or cash that then would need to be deposited into a checking account. Anyone holding down a job and managing family responsibilities didnt need these additional time-consuming tasks. Privacy was hardly possible, and manually carrying checks or cash in an unfamiliar neighborhood might have posed a safety risk.