Can a workplace financial counseling program leverage mobile tools to boost the financial health of low-and-moderate income employees?
The PayGoal initiative, powered by Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners (NTFP), aims to guide America’s hardest workers through their monthly cash flow challenges, connecting their wages to their top financial goals. The beta iteration of the PayGoal app is a workplace financial coaching and cash flow management tool that uses mobile technology to guide employees through simple steps aimed at enhancing their resiliency and ability to meet commitments, and to start saving. Neighborhood Trust partnered with prepaid card provider BankingUP to distribute cards to users that do not have a transaction account, but also accommodated users who preferred to bring their own bank product to the experience. PayGoal is integrated into participating employers’ systems and leverages employer trust to onboard users.
The project received funding from the Center for Financial Services Innovation’s Financial Capability Innovation Fund. A partnership with a collaborative of funders led by the Citi Foundation, the Funds provided support to innovative projects designed to help low-income and underserved consumers adopt positive financial behaviors. CFSI paired Neighborhood Trust with the UNC Center for Community Capital to provide research support throughout the PayGoal pilot.