Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser yesterday announced the state had filed a lawsuit against Activehours Inc., which does business as EarnIn, alleging the earned wage access provider made millions of unlicensed high-cost loans to state residents and used manipulative app design to collect finance charges.
EarnIn markets advances it calls “Cash Outs” as access to already-earned pay with no interest and no hidden fees, and states that consumers have no obligation to repay. Plaintiffs allege the product functions as a loan under the Colorado Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Oasis Legal Finance Group v. Coffman, which looked to the substance of a transaction rather than its label. The complaint states that EarnIn conditions advances on a preauthorized ACH debit, reserves the right to reinitiate failed debits for up to 150 days, and blocks consumers from further advances until outstanding balances are paid.
Between January 2023 and July 2025, according to the complaint, EarnIn made 3,163,906 loans to 56,778 Colorado consumers, advancing roughly $300 million and collecting $16,144,232.54 in tips and expedite fees marketed as “Lightning Speed.” Consumers paid a tip or an expedite fee on 92.10% of transactions, producing an average APR of 387.69% on an average advance of $94.87 with a term of about 9.74 days. Consumers repaid on 99.18% of transactions.
The complaint cites individual borrowers, including one who took 1,151 advances and paid $4,038.50 in expedite fees at an average 1,421.06% APR, and another who took 1,033 advances and paid $8,561.22 at an average 1,539.55% APR.
EarnIn is also accused of deploying interface tactics it internally called “roadblocks” to suppress $0 tips, including a default $11 tip on a $100 advance that required 13 taps to zero out, a de-emphasized custom tip button, and messaging such as “pay it forward.” The complaint states tips went to EarnIn rather than to other users. EarnIn stopped charging tips in July 2025.
The six claims include excess charges, disclosure failures and unlicensed supervised lending under the UCCC, violation of the Deferred Deposit Loan Act enacted through 2018’s Proposition 111, and two Colorado Consumer Protection Act counts covering dark patterns and false statements concerning price.
