This startup is giving customers early access to billions in stimulus checks

Big banks face competition from startup challengers on fees, apps and direct deposits. During the Covid era, that battle is expanding to which company can pay out stimulus checks the fastest.

Big-bank customers complained over the weekend about how their $1,400 stimulus payments were still pending in their bank accounts. Those payments may not arrive until Wednesday, nearly a week after President Joe Biden signed the historic $1.9 trillion economic relief package into law.

Newbies in the banking space are moving much faster. By Monday afternoon, Chime, the most valuable US consumer fintech startup, had already made about $3.5 billion in stimulus payments to more than a million customers, the startup told CNN Business.

Digital bank Current says it immediately credited member accounts, with the funds beginning to flow at 11 am ET on Friday.

The difference in timing can be significant to many customers, especially those whose careers have been sidelined by the pandemic. And it’s a way for fintechs to stand out from their better-known and much larger rivals.

“Affluent people may ask: What’s the big deal? Well, it means a lot if you’re living paycheck to paycheck, trying to make ends meet,” Chime co-founder and CEO Chris Britt told CNN Business on Monday. “Who doesn’t want to get paid sooner? It gives you flexibility to take care of your financial needs and live life, especially when people are struggling.”