Grab’s cash-advance scheme for drivers stirs debate, draws calls for more clarity

A NEW cash-advance scheme by ride-hailing service Grab has stoked conversations on whether such a lending product is beneficial to gig workers or could put them at risk of running up debts. The scheme comes four years after the company launched a similar product and then scrapped it.

Grab rolled out the new scheme, called the Partner Cash Advance service, in December 2022. It invites eligible drivers and delivery riders to apply for cash advances of between S$1,000 and S$10,000. A one-time admin fee is charged upfront and the net amount disbursed is repaid weekly, over three to nine months.

Grab has not widely publicised the scheme, but word of it got out on social media. A screenshot posted on a Facebook group indicated that a driver could apply for a S$5,000 cash advance from Grab payable over six months, with a S$450 admin fee at 9 per cent of the gross sum. He would have to repay about S$192 every week, with the sum automatically deducted from his in-app wallet.