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Dennis Eliminated 80% of His Debt through an IDA Program

Dennis Matthews’ life is unrecognizable since he enrolled in the IDA program. Before enrolling, he was $10,000 in debt and faced a 45% salary reduction after being laid off.

“I was in so much trouble,” he said. “The cost of living was so high.”

Fortunately, his new job at ShoreBank in Chicago – one of CFED’s partners – offered Individual Development Accounts (IDAs). IDAs are matched savings accounts designed to help low to moderate income people invest in life-long assets.

In Dennis’ case, he was saving to go to college.

He regularly put part of his paycheck toward the IDA in addition to taking ShoreBank-sponsored money management courses, which he credits with giving him the motivation to make some major life changes.

“The classes showed me how to evaluate my personal net worth and evaluate how much I owed,” he said. “It was a wake-up call to realize how much debt I had accumulated.”

In less than two and a half years, Dennis eliminated 80% of his debt – all due to his IDA.

“I didn’t get a second job. I didn’t use my tax refund. And I was able to do all that.”

After he had paid off most of his debt, he had still saved enough to go back to school for accounting.

Dennis thanks the IDA program for not only his reduced debt and college degree, but also his family life. After he was able to become financially stable, he got married, bought a house and had two baby boys.

“The first little guy didn’t put a strain on us, but the second one really showed us the importance of financial planning,” all of which he learned through the IDA program.