Effects of a randomized tax-time savings intervention on savings account ownership among low-and moderate-income households

  • Mathieu Despard
  • , Michal Grinstein-Weiss
  • , Anna Deruyter
  • , Shenyang Guo
  • , Jane E. Oliphant
  • , Terri Friedline

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Being unbanked makes it difficult for low and moderate-income (LMI) households to manage finances, save, and access credit. We assessed effects of an online tax-time savings intervention on savings account openings in the 6 months following tax filing among a sample of 4,692 LMI tax filers. Treatment group participants had 60% greater odds of opening a savings account than control group participants (p < .05). However, statistically significant treatment effects were found only for participants who filed early in tax season and only for 5 out of 18 specific interventions. Low-cost messages delivered at tax time can encourage early season LMI tax filers who expect larger refunds to open savings accounts. Findings lend additional empirical support for financial inclusion efforts.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)219-233
Number of pages15
JournalJournal of Financial Counseling and Planning
Volume29
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - 2018
Externally publishedYes

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

  1. SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth
    SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth

Keywords

  • Financial inclusion
  • Financial services
  • Low-income households
  • Saving
  • Taxes
  • Unbanked

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