IDA's (Individual Development Accounts) Will help you buy a house!

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Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) are an asset building strategy for individuals and families. IDAs are matched savings accounts designed to help low to moderate-income people save money to pay for job training or education, buy a home or start their own business. Savings held in IDAs are matched by funding from financial institutions, foundations, religious congregations, and state and local governments.





By matching the money saved at ratios of 1:1 to 3:1, families and individuals increase their money, giving them not only an incentive to save but also an opportunity to purchase assets otherwise inaccessible to them. Thus, IDAs give program participants a structured mechanism by which to save for long-term wealth and asset accumulation.





IDA programs provide financial education as a requirement of the program. This training includes family budgeting and topics related to credit issues and comparison shopping. By pairing financial education with an incentive to save, IDAs are an effective way to begin a lifelong habit of saving and provide a long-term solution for low to moderate-income families and individuals to break poverty cycles.





Growth of IDA programs: As of August 2000, twenty-nine states have passed IDA legislation, and several other states have introduced, or plan to introduce, IDA legislation. On the Federal level, the Assets For Independence Act was passed in 1999 initiating an opportunity to expand IDAs even further.





Publications:


· Assets and the Poor: A new American Welfare Policy, by Michael Sherraden, Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe, Inc., c1991.


· Black Wealth/White Wealth: A new Perspective on Racial Inequality, by Melvin Oliver and Thomas M. Shapiro, New York: Routledge, c1995.


· IDA Program Design Handbook: A Step-by-Step Guide to Designing an IDA Program - Fourth Edition, Washington, DC: CFED, c2000. Available from: CFED 202-408-9788


777 N. Capitol Street NE, Suite 800


Washington, DC 20002





Web Pages:





Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED): www.cfed.org


IDA Learning Network: www.idanetwork.org


Center for Social Development (CSD): http://gwbweb.wustl.edu/Users/csd/





You can check your state IDA programs at:


http://www.idanetwork.org/index.php?section=state&page=state_pages.html

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