SNAP Financial Access

SNAP Financial Access is a Community Development Financial Institution and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Spokane Neighborhood Action Partners (SNAP), a community action agency that was founded more than 40 years ago. Access provides opportunities that empower low income people to become financially stable and build wealth for a prosperous future. All services, including money management, credit repair, savings and investment incentives, credit-builder loans, and small business development, are focused on meeting people where they are and helping them to start on a journey toward prosperity.

Access began offering matched savings accounts in 2001, focusing exclusively on public assistance recipients, and since that time the program has expanded to serve a wide range of low and moderate income people and refugees in the Spokane area. We have enrolled over 500 individuals to date in our matched savings account program, making our program one of the largest and most experienced in the state. We currently have over 100 active participants, with an average of $1400 in savings in their accounts, pursuing a mixture of goals including entrepreneurship, post-secondary education, and home ownership.

Access delivers strong outcomes for its savers. A sample of 33 graduates shows that one year after graduation:

• All homebuyers still own homes, all businesses are still open, and all of the participants who invested in education have received their degree or are still on track to finish;
• 55% are still saving on a monthly basis toward new goals;
• 88% still track their spending, and follow a budget;
• Only one has used a payday loan;
• 97% are still employed.

Matched savings accounts help transform lives, and Access is considered an exemplary program in the matched savings field.