Emergency Savings

Contact a local FAIM partner agency serving your county/area.  If there isn’t an agency offering FAIM in your area, you may contact the agency serving a neighboring area and ask to be screened for enrollment and program readiness.

If you are potentially eligible, you may be placed on the agency’s local FAIM wait list depending on grant availability. When FAIM enrollment is opened, the agency will contact wait-listed individuals regarding available programs. Please note that being placed on a wait list does not hold a spot in the program and is not a promise of enrollment.

Your deposits to the custodial FAIM savings account are your money, however, you will not have access to the account without authorization from the program.  A one-time emergency withdrawal may be permitted, if it meets the program’s criteria of an emergency (there are only three). If granted, emergency funds withdrawn from the FAIM account must be replaced within your saving period to qualify for match.  If the withdrawal occurs after the 24-month saving period, your enrollment may be terminated.

If funds are withdrawn from the FAIM account without program authorization for anything other than an emergency (as noted in policies) or your chosen asset, the account will be closed, and enrollment will be terminated.  Your savings/interest will be returned to you, but the match is forfeited back to the program.

Your deposits to the FAIM (IDA) account must be made from earned income which was already taxed.  The funds used to match FAIM savings comes from grants and is held in a separate escrow account by the program’s fiscal administrator.

If the matched payout for your chosen asset is made payable to a third-party vendor the FAIM participant is not responsible to claim the match as income or be taxed on those dollars.

If a matched payout for an Emergency Savings asset track is not paid to a third-party vendor, the match may be considered income which could impact the FAIM participant’s eligibility for and/or benefits received from other programs (MFIP, SSI, etc.) and may also have tax implications.  BEFORE considering enrollment in this track – check with your caseworker to determine how it may affect your benefits.

If a matched payout for the 529 College Savings asset track is sent to MNSaves and is deposited into the account the FAIM participant opened, it may affect their eligibility for and/or benefits received from other programs (MFIP, SSI, etc.) and may also have tax implications.  BEFORE considering enrollment in this track – check with your caseworker to determine how it may affect your benefits.