Dec 22 (Reuters) - A U.S. consumer finance agency said

on Monday that popular "earned wage" advances on worker

paychecks do not resemble consumer loans, reversing course from

guidance the regulator put out last year ‌under then President

Joe Biden.

In an advisory opinion, the U.S. Consumer Financial

Protection Bureau ​said most paycheck advances were not subject

to the Truth ‍in Lending Act, meaning that companies that ⁠offer

the products ⁠are not required to provide workers with certain

disclosures, such as the cost ‌and terms of credit.

The opinion ​is not legally binding, but is intended to

provide clarity for industry participants, the CFPB said.

A ⁠growing number of providers offer ‍paycheck ​advances,

including digital bank Chime, which allows customers to

access up to $500 of their wages interest-free before payday

with no mandatory ‍fees.

Several states including Nevada and Wisconsin have specified

in state law that such products are not loans, but Congress has

not passed a law clarifying the issue on a federal level.

Last year, the CFPB had released interpretive ​guidance ‍that

moved to set federal guardrails for the fast-growing market,

stipulating that paycheck advances were equivalent to consumer

loans and ​arguing that doing so would provide greater

transparency for consumers.

Under President Donald Trump, the CFPB has moved to walk

back several of the agency's actions under the previous

administration, advancing Trump's effort to curtail policies he

views as a burden on businesses.

Last month, the ​agency proposed narrowing key

civil-rights-era anti-discrimination requirements for the

financial industry, following an executive order from Trump

earlier in the year to eliminate the use of ‍disparate-impact

liability.