Forsyth County, North Carolina

By Andriana Bicanin
Posted Monday, April 25, 2011

Learn More About New Century IDA

The Forsyth County Department of Housing is a partner of the New Century IDA. IDA stands for Individual Development Accounts; these are matched savings accounts that help those with low and moderate income pay for higher education, micro-enterprise, or a down payment for a first home. The New Century IDA primarily works with those who are seeking to buy a house for the first time, or who have not owned a home for at least two years.

Participants attend financial education classes and learn invaluable information, such as: spending wants vs. spending needs, and how to reduce debt and enhance credit. Participants are paired with Success Coaches and guided throughout the home buying process, preparing them for successful first time homeownership. The New Century IDA helps create educated consumers, who then become thriving members of their communities.

Participants are required to:

Attend 11 sessions of financial literacy classes
Meet consistently with their success coach
Save $75 a month until they reach their savings goal of $1500

After successful completion of the program their saved money is matched either 2:1 or up to 6:1; that means, for every $1 a client saves it is matched by $2 or up to $6. The match money is provided at closing in the form of down payment assistance.

After class completion, clients then attend:

2 hours of home maintenance courses
8 hours of home buyer education classes

No one is turned away. If there is extensive debt that will take more than 24 months to resolve, then the client goes through classes with partner organizations to ready them for program and homeownership success.

To become a New Century IDA saver, you can download the application from our website, fill out, and take it to the Experiment in Self Reliance, on 1550 University Court in Winston Salem.

The Housing Department’s crucial contribution takes on several levels:

Housing Director, Dan Kornelis, is co-founder of the New Century IDA and current working group chair
Bianca Green is a housing counselor for the County, as well as a member of the New Century working group and a loan counselor for clients about to venture into homeownership.
Through the support and guidance of Mrs. Green, since the inception of the New Century IDA in 1999, no client has ever received a sub-prime loan. She works one on one with clients to make sure they are given reasonable, affordable loans they are prepared to pay, which in turns allows them to achieve continued success after program participation.
Dan and Bianca help teach financial literacy classes.
The Housing Department contributes to the match dollars IDA clients receive in the form of down payment assistance.
The County also provides other types of down payment assistance in the form of deferred 2nd mortgages.

For more information: