There is a phrase Dan Schulman used to say when he ran PayPal that has stuck with me for years: “It is expensive to be poor in America.”
If you are part of the banked elite, money moves freely. You deposit a check on your phone, it clears instantly, and it costs you nothing. You are swimming in liquidity. But if you are part of the other America—the 60 million people we call the “Labor Economy“—the financial system is an obstacle course of fees, delays, and friction.
As we look toward 2026, we spend a lot of time in this industry talking about “fintech innovation” in the context of luxury. We talk about instant payouts for sports betting winnings or digitizing B2B supply chains—nice-to-haves that improve the customer experience for the comfortable. These things sit in the “Land of Luxury.”
But there is another land: the “Land of Survival.” And my forecast for 2026 is that this land is not shrinking; it’s growing. And, it’s about to force the entire fintech industry to answer a very old question: “Where’s the beef?”
The “Where’s The Beef?” Moment for Fintech
I’m looking at our revenue numbers for October 2025, and they tell a story that directly contradicts the rosy “soft landing” headlines you see on CNBC. We are seeing a massive resurgence in our check-cashing business. Since February, volumes have surged, hitting record highs month after month.
Why is a 95-year-old product like check-cashing growing in the age of AI and crypto? Because people are struggling. Well, and partly because we are the only solution in the market where you can get instant funds anywhere you want from your check on a mobile phone.
But beyond that, the reality is that 50% of the consumer spending in this country is being driven by the top 10% of the population. The stock market is booming for them. They are buying luxury goods and traveling. For the rest of America, inflation has made it expensive just to exist. It costs too much to eat out. It costs too much to buy groceries.
In 2026, the “Where’s the Beef?” moment is coming for fintechs that built flashy user interfaces without solving real problems. When the economy tightens, the “just-in-time customer” relies on us more for things like check-cashing and instant payouts, not less. They can’t wait three days for a check deposit to clear or worse, risk that it might be clawed back after they’ve spend the money. They need that money as good funds and they need it tonight to buy milk and diapers. For them, speed isn’t a luxury feature. Speed is liquidity. And liquidity is survival.
The “Wage to Wallet” Disconnect
Our Wage to Wallet Index, produced with PYMNTS Intelligence, found that the average worker in this segment has just $5,737 in liquid savings. That is their entire safety net.
This data drives my primary forecast for 2026: The Death of the Bi-Weekly Pay Cycle.
The traditional pay cycle is a relic of the mainframe era that creates debt. It forces workers to borrow money they have already earned but can’t wait two weeks to receive, just to survive the gap between pay periods. We see this in the gig economy, but we also see it in the “transactional workforce” – the server at Taco Bell, the Uber driver, the warehouse worker, the freelancer. I could go on. The point is, many of these folks are piecing together gigs and jobs to make ends meet.
The “No Tax on Tips” movement that gained bipartisan traction last year was a symptom of this. It wasn’t all about taxes. Really, it was about workers fighting for every single dollar of liquidity they could get their hands on. In 2026, I predict that Continuous Payroll will move from a “perk” to a baseline requirement for hiring.
For example: If you are a hospitality chain or a restaurant facing $5,700 in turnover costs per employee, you cannot afford to pay every two weeks. You have to pay every day, because your employees are demanding it or they’re leaving to work for a competitor.
Regulatory Maturity: The End of the Wild West
This shift toward instant access is also being cemented by regulation. For years, Earned Wage Access (EWA) operated in a gray area. Was it a loan? Was it a payment?
In 2026, that debate is largely over. We have seen states like Nevada and Indiana lead the way with licensing frameworks that explicitly classify EWA as a non-loan product, provided there is a “no-cost” option. But, it’s not consistent across the country; conversely, states like Maryland have taken a harder line.
This regulatory patchwork is forcing the industry to mature. The “wild west” days of fee-heavy, direct-to-consumer advances are ending. My forecast is that 2026 will be the year of the Employer-Integrated Model. By integrating directly with time-and-attendance systems, providers can verify exactly what has been earned, eliminating credit risk and solidifying the argument that this is a payout of an asset, not a loan.
Bridging the Old and the New
For a long time, the fintech industry—and yes, even Ingo—shied away from talking about checks. We wanted to be seen as a “payments company,” not a “check company.” We wanted to talk about the shiny new rails like RTP and FedNow.
But here is my controversial forecast for 2026: The winners will be the companies that bridge the gap between the paper past and the digital future.
Google SEO’s tools might be confused about whether Ingo is a payments company or a check company, but the consumer isn’t. To them, it’s the same thing. Whether they are cashing a paper payroll check or cashing out their gig earnings instantly to their debit card, the need is identical:
“I earned it, and I need it now.”
We are seeing a huge spike in our revenue coming from consumers accessing our services through brand partners that Americans in the Labor Economy rely on – P2P, neobanking, and more. And, need I clarify, these aren’t corporate treasurers either. They’re people trying to navigate a financial system that wasn’t built for them. The companies that win in 2026 won’t be the ones building “crypto islands” that only tech-bros can use. They will be the ones building bridges—taking a paper check, digitizing it instantly, and pushing the funds to a wallet or card in seconds.
Final 2026 Forecast Thoughts
So, my prediction for 2026 isn’t about a specific technology. It’s about a return to reality.
We are entering an era where value is defined by how well you serve the Labor Economy. If you can help a family avoid a $35 overdraft fee by giving them instant access to their wages for a smaller fee, you’re providing more than a service. You are providing a lifeline.
We are going to stop being ashamed of the “old” rails and start celebrating the fact that we can turn any asset—a paper check, a digital tip, a gig payout—into spendable cash, instantly. That is what the back half of “Money Mobility” actually means. It means ensuring that no one has to pay the “high cost of being poor” just to access money that is already theirs.
We may be the only company in America leveraging modern technology like AI to facilitate faster and safer access to hard earned transactional payroll for hard working Americans. But it’s a noble cause and one whose future remains relevant.
In 2026, we are going to tell that story louder than ever. Because millions of Americans are listening.
