Online IDA: Features and Benefits
Online IDA was created as a web-based, integrated financial transaction and record keeping system built in partnership with SunGard Data Systems. Online IDA was designed to replace traditional IDA delivery model built on parallel systems – one for financial institutions and another for IDA program sponsors – in order to eliminate time consuming monthly data transfers between systems. In addition, the Online IDA account structure did not require financial institutions to open low-balance, high-cost specialty accounts for each IDA participant or to provide specialized data feeds or duplicate account statements to IDA program sponsors. Online IDA was created in anticipation of passage of the Savings for Working Families Act (“SWFA”) which would create hundreds of thousands of new IDAs. IDA holders, accessing Online IDA through the Internet, can initiate IDA contributions via electronic transfer, could check their account balances, and request matched or unmatched withdrawals. IDA program staff accessed Online IDA to monitor individual IDA holder’s account activity, approve participant enrollments and asset purchases, manage program match funds and run management reports. 
Online IDA Features
- Real time access – up-to-the-minute data for all IDA stakeholders (account holders, program staff, funders and others).
- Simple connections – financial institutions offer IDAs without special data feeds or other systems groundwork; IDA holders can initiate electronic transfers from ordinary bank accounts and other sources.
- Universal access – IDA program staff and account holders access account information and initiate transactions from any web-enabled computer or device at any convenient time.
- Direct access for IDA holders - IDA holders have direct access to current, detailed information about their savings and match funds, no longer relying on program sponsors for monthly or quarterly statements.
Online IDA Benefits
- Efficiency – improves IDA program administrative efficiency by reducing time required for acquiring, updating and reconciling data, and by capitalizing on economies of scale made possible through pooled investing and record keeping.
- Access & reach – by putting IDAs on the Internet, helps reach low-income families who lack the time, physical access or inclination to participate in an in-person, social service model IDA program.
- Technology diffusion – leverages IDA savings matches and the appeal of asset development to drive technology adoption, as technology become a means to an end (an IDA) rather than an end unto itself.
- Scalability – facilitates multi-party, multi-site program administration, nurturing further development of sophisticated, community-wide IDA collaboratives that often operate with great efficiency, professionalism and effectiveness.