Home of Your Own Individual Development Account (IDA) Initiative

The Individual Development Account (IDA) Savings Plan is a pilot program to provide wealth-building and financial education opportunities to Mississippi families with disabilities of low-wealth who meet the Home of Your Own program requirements.  The IDA is a matched savings account to encourage individuals to save money and invest in a home of their own. Trustmark Bank is the program partner bank that allows families to open restricted savings accounts to participate in the IDA program. The accounts are monitored by HOYO staff who recruit and enroll individuals and provide case management, financial education and more.

Staff from the Mississippi Individuals Development Account Partnership and IDS sign an agreement to help low-income individuals and families create wealth.

Initiative Eligibility
Participants must be

• first-time home buyers (HUD definition – shall not have owned a residence as primary for the past three years)
• receiving some verifiable income
• saving for the purpose of obtaining funds to assist with purchasing a first home and cannot have more than $2,000 cash on hand or in a deposit account
• enrolled in program for no less than six months and no more than 24 months to receive matching funds
• low-income household not to exceed 80% of the area median income
• completing counseling sessions as required (credit review, goals and action plan, money management or financial literacy training, pre-purchase and post purchase training)
• making minimum monthly deposits of $25 and no more than $250 (monthly savings activity is not optional and lump sum deposits are permitted only from income tax return, earned income tax credit, bonuses from employer and not to exceed $500)

Maximum amount of savings match is $1,000 and funds are matched $3 in matching funds to every $1 saved by the IDA participant. Total maximum savings does not exceed $4,000 (example, when participant saves $1,000, their funds are matched with $3,000 from program).