Savings for the Poor: The Hidden Benefits of Electronic Banking

(Paperback)

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At the beginning of 1999, federal payments began to be made via electronic funds transfer (EFT); the motive behind this move was a drive towards efficiency and cost-cutting. In this text, the author argues that the initiative has a far broader potential: to bring poor Americans into the banking mainstream. "Savings for the Poor" outlines how many families w ill enter the mainstream system through EFT'99, as the programme is called. Stegman proposes that it be combined with a programme of national Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) - dedicated savings accounts for low-income people that can be used for purchasing a first home, acquiring more education or job training, or starting a small business.

Reviews

"Michael Stegman has written an important book. It is a must read for anyone interested in ways to alleviate poverty and to achieve a greater degree of economic well-being in our country." Eugene A. Ludwig, Vice Chairman Bankers Trust/Deutsche Bank

"Professor Stegman makes a powerful argument that the advantages of a bank account, and especially of savings, should not be reserved for the rich and middle-class, but rather should be easily available for anyone trying to move from welfare to work, to save her money, increase her assets, and improve her life or her children's chances." Senator Joseph I. Lieberman, Democratic Senator from Conneticut

Author Bio

"Michael A. Stegman is professor of public policy and director of the Center for Community Capitalism in the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was previously Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Joseph I. Lieberman is a former United States Senator from Connecticut."