Financial Institutions
America Saves Week is an annual opportunity to encourage saving, debt reduction, and wealth building. Partnerships can be established with local America Saves campaigns to offer motivational workshops, posters, brochures, and other resources. Create a blitz and a buzz and establish goals for new accounts opened, new deposits, increased balances, new automatic savings sign-ups, new IRAs, CDs, and other savings and investment opportunities, and incentives for people to open or add money to their accounts during the Week.
Participate by sponsoring Build Wealth Not Debt Workshops offered by local America Saves Campaigns. Ask financial educators to present their classes, and above all: Encourage people to take financial action through saving, debt reduction, and wealth building. Click here to see what particapting trade associations and companies planned for America Saves Week 2008 to use as ideas for America Saves Week 2009; February 22 through March 1, 2009.
Banks and Credit Unions
- Blast the message loud and clear—“Make Savings Automatic”—is the only way to save and build wealth: utilize America Saves Week Resource Kit that includes electronic (PDF) files for posters, fliers and payroll/statement stuffers that can be co branded with your logo, strategies for free media coverage, and message distribution on a community basis.
- Use the America Saves Week campaign and the message of Make Savings Automatic to educate your customers or members to save for homeownership, education, retirement, or any other goal.
- Open the door to current and potential customers or members to save and build wealth better—offer no-fee savings accounts at low opening balances ($25 or less) with incentives introduced during the Week; offer incentives for making deposits into current accounts, offer low cost IRAs, CDs or other wealth- building accounts, offer special emergency savings accounts.
- Schedule Single Employer Group visits during the week to recruit new members and encourage existing members to increase balances through deposits made during the week.
- Offer financial education classes and/or one-to-one counseling to current members and use them to recruit new members, with plans being made, Savers enrolled, and accounts opened or added to.
Documents for Distribution
- America Saves Week logo
- Posters—download, customize, print, and distribute all five versions
- Flyers—download, customize, print, and distribute all five versions
- Brochures—download, customize, print, and distribute to appropriate partner organizations.
- Saving Your Tax Refund Made Simple
Now, taxpayers have an easy way to keep some of the pie for themselves: Finally, savings made simple! Using Form 8888, taxpayers can direct-deposit tax refunds into up to three accounts, making it easy to save a portion of their refunds. They can spend some on expenses, invest some in a long-term goal, and save some for emergency funds. - For additional materials like a sample proclamation, power point presentation or payroll stuffer, visit the America Saves website
Success Stories From America Saves Week 2007
- Seven banks in Cleveland committed to opening 1,100 new savings accounts in low-to-moderate income (LMI) areas by year-end. Over 400 accounts were opened during the Week.
- Citizens Bank in Philadelphia used the messages and materials from Philly Saves to open 1,800 new accounts in LMI areas, 1,000 more than they opened in all of Philadelphia in a week.
- US Bank in Cleveland offered a 6% yield for accounts opened during the Week, Zion’s Bank offered 4.5%, and an employee credit union in Philadelphia offered 8% if you enrolled as a Philly Saver, or 5% if you didn’t.
- In Dallas three banks and one credit union contributed to a drawing for a $10,000 savings Bond for an adult and $5,000 for a student as an incentive for enrolling as a Texas Saver and opening or adding to an existing savings account. This generated 1,100 new or added to accounts in six branches.
- In northern Wisconsin, 35,000 young students participated in a Roll Your Change Week by depositing over $7,000 in one local credit union.
- A defense credit union promoted a savings certificate designed for LMI members and realized an 8.6% increase in certificates opened and a 5.5% increase in deposits over the same period in 2006.
- A defense credit union reported 566 members opening savings certificates or setting up automatic transfers to savings accounts.
Success Stories from America Saves Week 2008
- Through the efforts of Prudential, over 700,000 people in all 50 states saw America Saves Week information on the company's website, received a direct mail piece on how to increase their retirement savings, or saw other marketing messages promoting the America Saves message. As a result, over 11,000 people opened a new CD or increased their retirement savings rates, resulting in over $60 million in annualized new savings.
- The Pacific Marine Credit Union, in partnership with San Diego Saves, offered a new savings certificate with a 10% APY. Nearly 800 new accounts were opened during Saves Week, with over $310,000 in new deposits and $1.5 million in pledged deposits.
Additional Activities
- Use America Saves Week to expand outreach, education, and new deposit promotions.
- For current business customers, reach out to their employees (At Work programs) to make savings automatic, set up an emergency savings account, or wealth building account through payroll deduction.
- In school presentations to students and teachers, encourage opening or adding to an existing account. The accounts can be savings, IRA, CD, or other wealth-building account.
- Enroll customers as America Savers.
- Make available America Saves Week brochures at teller windows.
- Host motivational workshops with partner organizations such as schools, nonprofits or at a library.
- Enclose America Saves Week flier in statement envelopes.
- Feature America Saves Week on Web site.
- Put a link on Web site to America Saves Week.
- Feature America Saves Week in advertising campaign.
- Hold a press event promoting America Saves Week and institutional goals numbers.