The CFE Fund leads a national movement that supports local Bank On coalition efforts to expand banking access for consumers outside the financial mainstream, including through municipal infrastructure. Based on local efforts and lessons learned, the CFE Fund put together these Bank On Guiding Principles to outline fundamental shared ideals of the Bank On movement and local coalition priorities.
Category: Report
Bank On Account Validation
The CFE Fund invites financial institutions with products they believe meet Bank On National Account Standards (2019 – 2020) to apply for validation, and invites local Bank On coalitions to connect financial institutions with whom they are considering partnering in their communities to do so.
Once verified by the CFE Fund’s third party evaluator, the National Consumer Law Center, as meeting Bank On Standards, financial institutions will receive a Bank On seal of approval for marketing and outreach purposes; national recognition highlighting the safety, affordability, and functionality of the account; and opportunities to partner with local Bank On coalitions in their footprint and other national Bank On stakeholders.
Account verification is free — please apply online here. Read Frequently Asked Questions, and their answers, about the process here.
Bank On Coalition Playbook
The CFE Fund supports local Bank On coalitions through best practices found in our Bank On Coalition Playbook. Chapters cover a range of topics; newly-released chapters include best practices for Programmatic Banking Access Integration, a handout for financial institutions on the benefits of Bank On National Account Certification, guidelines for Launching or Relaunching a Coalition, local Strategies for Navigating Financial Institution Partnerships and Account Certification, a Bank On Coalition Logic Model, a guide for using local Bank On data from the Bank On Data Pilot, and an annotated version of the 2019-2020 Bank On National Account Standards.
Bank On Coalition Financial Institution Partnerships: Statement of Principles
In addition to offering standardized and robust National Account Standards upon which coalitions and their financial institution partners may rely, the CFE Fund has worked with its National Advisory Board to develop model best practices for defining their successful relationship. The Statement of Financial Institution Partnership Principles provide a template to harmonize goals and guide partnerships with shared expectations.
CFE Fund Comment Letter on Evidence-Based Policy
The CFE Fund submitted a Comment Letter to the US Bureau of the Census Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking. The letter focused on strategies to increase the availability and use of government data to build evidence for programs and policies, while protecting privacy and confidentiality—drawing from the CFE Fund’s experience working with local governments across the country. Evidence of effectiveness is critical to local governments as they allocate limited resources, are accountable to residents for quality services, and seek program sustainability across administration changes. Based on programmatic experience from the Financial Empowerment Center initiative, the CFE Fund offers a number of recommendations to the Commission. These include: encourage federally funded programs, including block grants, to bake evaluation into program design; support data linkage efforts to give evaluators access to administrative data while ensuring privacy; and synchronize federal program data structures so agencies with multiple programs can collect compatible data, ideally in the same database.
CFE Coalition CFPB Comment Letter on Payday Loans
The 15-member CFE Coalition has weighed in on key federal policy issues since its founding in 2008.
In this 2016 letter, the Coalition highlights how programmatic experience has shown members the devastating impacts that predatory lending can have on residents. The Coalition applauds the Bureau’s efforts to create strong national regulations to safeguard consumers from abusive and costly practices in the short-term lending market that trap them in cycles of debt, and offers a number of recommendations. These include: the proposed full payment test should include standardized, transparent methods for estimating basic living expenses; access to covered short-term loans should be limited to four per 12 month period under the alternative requirements; the CFPB should implement a reasonable maximum payment-to-income ratio as an alternative to the full payment test to enable financial institutions to offer lower-cost, sustainable installment loans; lenders should be required to meet a clearly defined maximum annual portfolio default rate on all covered loan sequences, regardless of whether they use the full payment test or approved alternatives; and lenders should be required to contribute a percentage of revenue from all covered loans to a fund that supports nonprofit financial counseling.
CFE Coalition 2016 Policy Agenda: Policy Priorities and Recommended Agenda Items
The 15-member CFE Coalition has weighed in on key federal policy issues since its founding in 2008.
In 2016, the CFE Coalition released its 2016 Policy Agenda, outlining the legislative and regulatory reforms it seeks to advance. Key policy areas of interest include expanding access to financial products and services; improving financial capability; promoting asset building opportunities; and strengthening and expanding consumer financial protections. Specifically, the agenda supports newly-released Consumer Financial Protection Bureau proposed payday loan regulations, expanded access to financial counseling and safe banking products, and a reduction in municipal fees and fines.
Professionalizing Field of Financial Counseling and Coaching Journal
This interactive journal is a compilation of expert perspectives on professionalizing financial counseling, organized around the pillars of any professionalizing field—quality, consistency, accountability and community.
Summer Jobs Connect: Connecting Youth to Developmental and Financial Goals
The Summer Jobs Connect (SJC) initiative, generously supported by Citi Foundation, leverages the scale and infrastructure of Summer Youth Employment Programs (SYEPs) to offer banking access and other financial empowerment opportunities, helping to transform a summer job into an on-ramp to the financial mainstream.
This Research Brief details SJC youth participants’ views on financial empowerment, as explored in focus groups across partner cities, and highlights how financial empowerment can support positive youth development (PYD) efforts. PYD describes ideal outcomes for youth, as well as the processes through which they achieve these outcomes.
This brief follows upon a three-report compendium detailing our SJC city partners’ strategies to provide banking access and targeted financial education as part of their local SYEP, and how they are working to sustainably integrate these efforts into SYEP systems.
Summer Jobs Connect: Building Sustainable Banking and Savings Programs in Summer Youth Employment
The Summer Jobs Connect (SJC) initiative, generously supported by Citi Foundation, leverages the scale and infrastructure of Summer Youth Employment Programs (SYEPs) to offer banking access and other financial empowerment opportunities, helping to transform a summer job into an on-ramp to the financial mainstream.
This three-report compendium details city partners’ strategies to provide banking access and targeted financial education through SYEPs, and how they are sustainably and systemically integrating these efforts. These reports highlight three distinct strategies that partner cities used to refine and improve their programs during the second programmatic year. Brief One focuses on direct deposit and financial education efforts; Brief Two describes the use of incentives in SJC programs; and Brief Three details structural changes for sustainability.