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Linking Tax Refunds and Low‐Cost Bank Accounts: Early Lessons for Program Design and Evaluation
Author(s) -
BEVERLY SONDRA G.,
TESCHER JENNIFER,
ROMICH JENNIFER L.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of consumer affairs
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.582
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1745-6606
pISSN - 0022-0078
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-6606.2004.tb00872.x
Subject(s) - economics , business
This article describes a pilot program encouraging low‐income workers to have their tax refunds directly deposited into low‐cost bank accounts. Although the program did not lead to substantial saving in the short‐term, it did seem to facilitate account ownership among the unbanked and to serve as a bridge to other financial services and products. Early lessons for the design and evaluation of related programs are discussed.