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Keep It Goal 4
Families reduce their debt burdens and improve their credit ratings over time.
Common Sense
  • Paying interest and late fees on debt reduces income available for basic needs and can launch a cycle that leads to bankruptcy.
  • A bad credit rating makes it difficult or impossible to rent or buy a home, buy a car, get a loan, get insurance or get a job.
  • A low credit score increases the cost of any financing that low-income families do get.
Fast Facts

Check out related Action Ideas and Alerts below! Or view other Keep It goals here.

Roll Your Change Week

August 17, 2010 by

Roll Your Change Week (RYCW) is an event designed to encourage individuals and families to start saving. Community members gather the coins they have saved and found in their homes and carry them to a central event location-where volunteers roll the coins for them. People are encouraged to deposit their rolled coins into existing accounts […]

Filed Under: Goal 1: Families set short-term and long-term financial goals, and attain them., Goal 1: Family members establish a financial cushion by regularly building their savings over time., Goal 2: Families use reasonably priced services, accounts and products for their savings, checking and other financial transactions., Goal 4: Families reduce their debt burdens and improve their credit ratings over time., Goal 6: Family members increasingly participate in community activities and hold leadership roles., Goal 8: Family purchasing power, productivity and entrepreneurship strengthens local businesses., Grow It, Keep It, ReFresher Webinar

Rural IDAs

February 26, 2010 by

Earning It isn’t enough to lift families out of poverty—they have to Keep It and Grow It too. Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) are one of the most successful and tested ways to help families Keep It and Grow It. But there are special challenges and opportunities when you start and run an IDA program in a rural place. The basics […]

Filed Under: Goal 1: Families set short-term and long-term financial goals, and attain them., Goal 1: Family members establish a financial cushion by regularly building their savings over time., Goal 2: Families find, finance at competitive rates, and purchase quality homes in their communities., Goal 2: Families use reasonably priced services, accounts and products for their savings, checking and other financial transactions., Goal 3: Families build retirement-restricted financial assets., Goal 3: Families get loans they need without using predatory lenders., Goal 4: Families maintain and retain the value of any owned or inherited land and property., Goal 4: Families reduce their debt burdens and improve their credit ratings over time., Goal 5: Children of working families get high quality pre-K-to-12 schooling, and attain higher education levels that improve their family’s economic status., Grow It, Keep It, ReFresher Webinar

The Nasty Nine: Helping Rural Families Avoid Predatory Lending Practices

March 26, 2009 by

Do the rural families you encounter turn to predatory lenders and products when they need money—and end up in worse financial straits? Here are some resources you can use to guide them to better lending products that can help them stay afloat and get ahead in this economy: A recording of the RuFES webinar on the Nasty […]

Filed Under: Goal 1: Families set short-term and long-term financial goals, and attain them., Goal 2: Families use reasonably priced services, accounts and products for their savings, checking and other financial transactions., Goal 3: Families get loans they need without using predatory lenders., Goal 4: Families reduce their debt burdens and improve their credit ratings over time., Keep It, ReFresher Webinar
RuFES is a project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Aspen Institute Community Strategies Group.
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