IDAs/Matched Savings Accounts

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Restrictive asset limits in means-tested programs may unintentionally discourage families from saving. This brief presents an empirical analysis of how asset tests affect families' asset holdings. The findings suggest that more lenient asset tests and more generous IDA program rules can lead families to increase their asset holdings. Relaxed vehicle asset limits, for example, are associated with increased vehicle ownership. Since people often need a reliable car to get to work, this finding suggests that exempting at least one vehicle… more

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Successful IDA homeownership programs rely upon an abundance of housing assistance products aimed at complementing and leveraging their IDA matching grants. Households earning 200% of poverty must rely upon housing assistance programs that offer much more than the average $2,000 IDA matching grants. Many homebuyers’ matching IDA grants are in amounts that do not even cover the closing costs of their first mortgage. Fortunately, an ever-increasing number of local, state and federal programs provide financial aid to low-income first time… more

Using data from the 4-year American Dream Demonstration, this study compared saving performance and program participation of banked participants (n = 1,538) with unbanked participants (n = 466) enrolled in 14 IDA programs across the United States. The study found that unbanked participants had $3.26 lower average monthly net deposit (p more

This report provides key findings from case studies developed on 14 Assets for Independence (AFI)-funded individual development account (IDA) projects. IDAs are personal savings accounts targeted to low-income persons that encourage participants to save for specific types of assets by providing matching funds when the accountholder makes withdrawals for an allowable asset purchase.

This report provides the first national estimates of the effects of individual development accounts (IDAs) on participants in the largest federally funded IDA program: the Assets for Independence (AFI) Program. IDAs are personal savings accounts targeted to low-income persons that encourage participants to save for specific types of assets by providing matching funds when the accountholder makes withdrawals for an allowable asset purchase.

The Seventh Annual Report to Congress provides an update on the status of the Assets for Independence (AFI) program through the end of Fiscal Year (FY) 2006. The program was established by the Assets for Independence Act (“the Act”) in Title IV of the Community Opportunities, Accountability, and Training and Educational Services Act of 1998 (Public Law 105-285).

In today’s knowledge economy, technological change continues to penalize those who lack the appropriate skills. Disproportionately, it is low-income individuals who lack the skills needed, as well as the means to take advantage of public mechanisms to improve their skills. Learning to Save, Saving to Learn: Early Impacts of the learn$ave Individual Development Accounts Project, a new report released by the Social Research and Demonstration Corporation, presents the 18-month results of learn$ave, a project designed to demonstrate how Individual Development… more

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