Category: Report

Summer Jobs Connect Youth Account Priorities

Posted on by Katie Plat

The Summer Jobs Connect initiative, generously supported by Citi Foundation, leverages the scale and infrastructure of Summer Youth Employment Programs to offer banking access and other financial empowerment opportunities, helping to transform a summer job into an on-ramp to the financial mainstream.

These Summer Jobs Connect Youth Account Priorities outline the features that Summer Jobs Connect city partners prioritized in transactional accounts for participants. Key features include no required starting balance (the deposit requirement was suspended until the first paycheck); no monthly fees; and noncustodial accounts, accounts that are available for youth under 18 without requiring an adult “custodian” to cosign or guarantee the account.

The SaveUSA Playbook: A Tax Time Approach to Short-Term Savings

Posted on by Soliant Admin

Piloted at select free tax preparation sites in four cities, SaveUSA is a simple tax time matched savings program — tax filers who deposited part of their refund into a designated account, and maintained the deposit for a year, received a 50% savings match up to $500.

SaveUSA was designed to test if the tax time moment, when tax filers with low incomes often receive a significant refund, could be used to encourage filers to save for the short-term as a realistic first step towards longer-term financial stability. New evaluation results, from a rigorous randomized control trial, provide strong evidence that low-income families can save for the short-term, and the tax time moment can be leveraged to help them do so.

This Playbook was designed for communities interested in replicating SaveUSA, and includes information on designing the program, including key program elements, as well as talking points to develop SaveUSA champions. The SaveUSA program was supported by the New York City Center for Economic Opportunity and the Mayor’s Fund to Advance New York City, and created in partnership with the New York City Department of Consumer Affairs Office of Financial Empowerment.

Bank On National Account Standards (2015- 2016)

Posted on by Katie Plat

The Bank On National Account Standards provide guidelines on over 25 product features that local Bank On coalitions should seek in their financial institution partnerships and that financial institutions should consider when developing basic transaction accounts. The guidelines include both core and recommended features, and focus on safety, cost, accessibility, and functionality.

Account Screening Consumer Reporting Agencies: A Banking Access Perspective

Posted on by Soliant Admin

The CFE Fund and the National Consumer Law Center co-wrote this report, outlining the tremendous and deeply flawed role that account screening consumer reporting agencies (“CRAs”) play in determining whether consumers can obtain a bank or credit union account. The report raises concerns about these companies and financial institutions’ use of their reports, and offers solutions both for industry leaders and regulators.

CFE Coalition Comment Letter on the FDIC National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households

Posted on by Soliant Admin

The 15-member CFE Coalition has weighed in on key federal policy issues since its founding in 2008.

In this 2015 letter, the Coalition affirms that the information collected through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s (FDIC’s) National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households is useful and necessary, especially to inform Bank On programming and aligned financial products. The Coalition highlights specific questions from the Survey that have proved especially useful for member cities’ work, and urges the FDIC to keep as many questions as possible in the Survey. Finally, the Coalition asks for the ability to create custom tables from the data; encourages the FDIC to offer training for municipalities and others on how to use the tool; and urges caution as the FDIC explores moving towards online survey responses, given some un/underbanked and low-income consumers’ reluctance to submit personal information via online platforms.

More than a Job: Lessons from the First Year of Enhancing Municipal Summer Youth Employment Programs Through Financial Empowerment

Posted on by Soliant Admin

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 report details lessons learned from initial steps to integrate financial empowerment strategies into Summer Youth Employment Programs. Through developing and building new partnerships, taking advantage of important touchpoints throughout the program, and setting goals informed by youth capacities, SJC cities are beginning to build a blueprint for this new national SYEP model.

CFE Coalition Comment Letter on Limitations on Terms of Consumer Credit Extended to Service Members and Dependents

Posted on by Soliant Admin

The 15-member CFE Coalition has weighed in on key federal policy issues since its founding in 2008.

In this 2013 letter, the CFE Coalition urges the Department of Defense (DoD) to revise its regulations implementing the Military Lending Act (MLA) to ensure that service members and their families are protected from the full range of abusive lending practices that trap them in cycles of debt.

The Coalition urges the DoD to expand MLA regulations beyond the narrowly defined scope of the types of “consumer credit” subject to protections. Specifically, the Coalition recommends amending the limits to MLA applicability based on loan term, maximum loan amount and loan structure for payday lenders and vehicle title lenders; subjecting direct deposit advance loans to full MLA protections; and ensuring that MLA protections are uniformly applied to the full range of deleterious products targeted at members of the military.