Q: Are there any organizations in the Philadelphia, PA area are participating in the IDA Program?

A: For those of you that have never heard of this before, an IDA is:

An Individual Development Account (or IDA) that lets low-to-moderate income earners save money for a specific goal – such as a down payment on a house or starting a business – and receive matching funds from non-profit groups, corporations, and government agencies.

Many IDAs provide a $3 to $1 match, meaning for every dollar you save, you get $3 in contributions.

What’s the catch? You must agree to save money for a set period of time, usually at least one year. Some IDAs require you to set aside money for two or three years.

Whatever the term, it’s worth it – because you’ll get rewarded with a huge cash bonus in the end. I’ve written a whole chapter about IDA’s in my book Your First Home: The Smart Way To Get It and Keep It.

A: To find out about IDAs, the best place to search (in Philly or anywhere nationwide) is through the IDA Network. Their website is http://www.IDANetwork.org.

When you go to the site, click on the link that says “IDA Program Directory.” Here’s a direct link to that page: http://cfed.org/programs/idas/directory_search/

From there, you just enter your zip code and put the number of miles from that distance you want to search.

For example, since I used to live in the University City section and other parts of Philadelphia, I know some Philly neighborhoods.

I entered zip code 19131 and then told it to search for any IDA programs within 10 miles of that zip code.

Here are the results that were returned to me:

Search Results

You should enter your own zip code and then you’ll see the closest banks/programs offering Individual Development Accounts in your area.

Good luck!