Rally at Riverside Park offers residents first chance to open low-cost and no-cost accounts through Bank On Indy

INDIANAPOLIS – Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard and First Lady Winnie Ballard joined community leaders and financial institution partners today at Riverside Park to launch Bank On Indy, a citywide campaign aimed at getting nearly 80,000 unbanked Marion County residents to start using traditional banking services.

“Introducing financial fitness, and connecting people with the tools they need to manage money wisely and live within their means is one of the most significant steps we can take to improve the quality of life for all citizens,” said Mayor Ballard.

The initiative is a new public-private partnership designed to offer low-cost and no-cost checking and savings accounts, financial education and other banking and credit union products designed to bring the county’s unbanked population into the financial mainstream. Bank On Indy will encourage people to write checks instead of buying money orders, avoid check-cashing fees, build savings, establish or rebuild credit, protect their money from theft and natural disasters, and monitor their spending.

“Many people have little or no introduction to banking, and others have had difficulty staying in the financial mainstream for a number of reasons. Second chances seem hard to come by in the financial world, but when other cities have tried programs similar to Bank On Indy, the response demonstrates that second chances are well worth the investment. People get banked and stay banked, because they understand that checking and saving give you financial stability,” said Indianapolis First Lady Winnie Ballard.

Currently, 16 financial institutions have signed on to participate in the Bank On Indy campaign. Community partners United Way of Central Indiana and the Central Indiana Community Foundation will assist in the effort by connecting individuals with financial education and financial coaching resources throughout Indianapolis.

Participating institutions include:

• Chase Bank

• Clarian Federal Credit Union

• Eli Lilly Federal Credit Union

• Fifth Third Bank

• Finance Center Federal Credit Union

• Flagstar Bank

• Harris Bank

• Huntington National Bank

• KEMBA Financial Credit Union

• Key Bank

• M & I Bank

• National City Bank

• Old National Bank

• Salin Bank and Trust Company

• Star Financial Bank

• Warren MSD Federal Credit Union