Partnership Accounts for Individual Development

Poor credit choices such as payday loans, rapid refunds, predatory mortgages, rent-to-own arrangements, and other high cost, high interest rate loan products comprise the array of financial services available to many unbanked, low-income, or debt-stressed persons. Asset-building strategies such as Individual Development Account programs are intended to facilitate behavioral change and financial stability for low-income families. IDA programs such as ours provide basic financial literacy education and encourage regular saving habits through a special savings account in which participants' monthly deposits are matched by up to two dollars for each dollar saved, to a maximum limit. The matching funds are raised from public, commercial, and private sources. Participants must then use their savings plus match monies to purchase an asset such as a home or a car, to acquire a post-secondary education, or to start a small business.

• Central Illinois

• Program

University of Illinois

Chicago Campus - Springfield Campus - Urbana-Champaign Campus