Uber’s Deal With Green Dot Illustrates Payments Potential

When Uber and Green Dot last week rolled out Uber Checking By Go Bank, it offered little more than a slightly more convenient way for workers to get paid and to be paid more timely. In payments, though, it can be those little conveniences and small elements of automation that can build into a massive change. And who understands that digital disruption concept better than Uber—and payment facilitators.

The idea is straight-forward: When Uber drivers want to get paid for hours logged, use what Uber is calling Instant Pay. They can log in 24x7 and "cash out your earnings instantly and easily at any time, with no minimum deposit or transaction fees." The cash is loaded onto their Uber Debit Card. The near-term advantages are that workers control when they get paid—no more waiting until the company dictated date of, let's say, the 15th of each month—and the account can be isolated. That isolation means that they don't need to share sensitive bank account details with their employer if they don’t want to.