FSS Newsletter :: September 2002

Money Matters :: The Wonderful Money Saving Opportunity Called The Escrow Account

For this month’s Money Matters column I struggled to find an article that I thought would be a new and interesting money management article. I continue to be simply amazed by the shear volume of useful information on this subject on the internet. For anyone who has access to the internet, there is simply no excuse for not finding helpful information regarding your own
financial matters. But since I couldn’t find exactly the right article for this month I decided to write my own column on the best money saving opportunity available to FSS clients.

During my search, what my mind kept coming back to was the extraordinary opportunity that FSS participants have to save money through the escrow account program. To date, TMHA has paid out approximately $130,514.00. That’s a sizeable sum!

Here is a sampling of some of the checks that FSS participants have received:

$4,872
$15,669
$5,911
$5,077
$13,428
$3,434
$8,986
$4,394
$7,762
$5,350
$3,612

As of this writing 33 FSS participants have active escrow accounts with a cumulative balance of about $106,000. Clearly, monies are being saved. That’s the good news. Now the bad news. We can do much better.

The potential is there for the saving to be much better if more FSS clients were to take advantage of this wonderful opportunity. Remember, in order for an FSS client to generate an escrow account, they simply need to experience an increase in earned income after they sign up for the FSS program by signing their Contract of Participation.

Of the 46 current FSS participating families, 19 do not have an escrow account. Some of those 19 have been on the program for a significant time period. By not working an earning income, they are missing the boat on the best money saving opportunity they will ever see, bar none. The FSS program does have a five year time limit. If a client chooses to waste away those
years without any significant work activity, escrow opportunity is lost.

The best money saving plans are those where the person never sees the money. By never seeing the money I mean that it is much like an automatic withdrawal from your paycheck. Out of sight-out of mind. This is much like how the escrow program works. In order for an FSS client to be successful in saving money they only need to do two key things. 1) Increase their
earned income and 2) Pay their rent. The rest is done by the housing authority.

TMHA will calculate the amount of escrow to which you are entitled an make the deposits to the escrow account each month. At the end of each year we will send you a statement of the activity of your account. To receive the money you simply need to keep working toward self-sufficiency through employment opportunities an increased income. Someday, like the recipients of those check amounts listed in this article, you will reach the finish line and be entitled to the money.

As I have told past successful FSS participants who have received escrow accounts, this is the best money saving opportunity to help you become a home owner that you will ever see. Don’t blow the money and blow your opportunity to become a homeowner. Unfortunately, I have no idea in many cases where their money ultimately ended up. I hope they used it wisely.

For those of you yet to take advantage of the escrow account feature, get to work and get on board. The savings ship has set sail!