Home: All News: Working to Recover: Savings Accounts Assist Disaster-Impacted Iowans:

  

Working to Recover: Savings Accounts Assist Disaster-Impacted Iowans

Rebuild Iowa Office

Governor Chet Culver
Lt. Governor Patty Judge
Lt. Gen. Ron Dardis, Executive Director

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 15, 2010
Media Contacts: Tina Potthoff
Rebuild Iowa Office
(515) 242-5232 (o)
(515) 975-9211 (c)
Fax: (515) 242-5006



WORKING TO RECOVER: SAVINGS ACCOUNTS ASSIST DISASTER-IMPACTED IOWANS

Special Individual Development Account Matches Money in Savings For Disaster-Affected Individuals

Note: More than $3.8 billion in disaster-recovery funds have been committed to Iowa since the 2008 floods and tornadoes. “Working to Recover” is an effort by the Rebuild Iowa Office to show how disaster recovery funds have assisted individuals, businesses and communities as the money flows out through recovery programs administered by local, state, federal and non-profit agencies. Volunteer efforts will also be highlighted.

(DES MOINES) – Iowans affected by the floods and tornadoes of 2008 have an opportunity to receive financial assistance via a savings account through one of 20 credit unions that serve 91 counties in the state.

The program, called the Rebuild Iowa Individual Development Account (IDA), provides matching funds to savings in accounts set up by individuals or families. For individuals, the program will match $2 for every $1 a person puts into the IDA account. The maximum the program will match for individuals is $2,000 of savings. For families, the program will match $1.50 for every $1 a family puts into the IDA account. The maximum the program will match for families is $4,000 of savings, said Marybeth Foster, executive director of the Iowa Credit Union Foundation, which oversees the program funded through state dollars.

For example, if an individual saves $2,000, the match would be $4,000, and if a family saves $4,000, the match would be $6,000. Participants must save for six months to receive the matching funds, and must save a minimum of $25 per month. All the money saved must go toward the item or services the individuals or families decide to purchase.

Items approved for purchase with money from the IDA program can be used for closing and down-payment costs for first-time home-buyers; to start or expand a small business; pay for post-secondary education or job training; purchase a vehicle if the saver does not currently own one; and purchase assistance technology for a home or vehicle modification for people with physical challenges, among others.

“We usually ask a participant what his or her savings goal is, but he or she can change it,” Foster said. “Typical goals will be saving for the purchase of a home, education or job training, small business, and improvements to a home.”

Two additional requirements are that the participants must live in one of the 85 presidentially-declared disaster counties from 2008 and not make more than 300 percent above poverty level. The individual or family must also prove they have some form of income that is not from child support, alimony or unemployment benefits for the savings. Qualifying income may come from wages, business ownership and non-traditional activities such as selling crafts or babysitting, as long as income documentation exists.

Foster said anyone interested in the program should sign up no later than December because the program only runs through the end of June 2011, and participants must save for six months.

For more information about the IDA program and which credit unions participate, visit the Iowa Credit Union Foundation Web site at www.iowacreditunions.com.

Contact for the Media:
Marybeth Foster, Executive Director of the Iowa Credit Union Foundation, Phone 515-221-3001