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Community Financial Resources (CFR) has always actively tracked the impact of our products on the communities we serve through de-identified transactional data. Check our blog regularly for the latest insights on savings, debt, income, spending patterns, the real-life impacts of COVID-19 on working families, the impact of government stimulus payments, and the significance of our VITA program.

In this data insight, we looked at how our cardholder’s spending trends varied amongst three of our programs. Programs include: Workforce Financial Wellness, COVID-19 Emergency Relief and Recovery, and Guaranteed Basic Income (GBI).

Food and Sales and Merchandise were top spending categories amongst all three of our programs, indicating that whether funds come from cash assistance programs or earned income – people spend money on the things they need the most. Cardholders in Workforce Financial Wellness and GBI programs were also more likely to donate a small percentage of income.

Withdrawals are not reflected in these data sets, however, they account for roughly 40% of all transactions for our cardholders in Workforce Financial Wellness and COVID-19 Response programs. This indicates that cardholders prefer to control their funds in a variety of ways and it is important that financial products give cardholders the agency to do so.

Learn more in the infographics below! Please note: data in the first two insights is reflective of spending patterns from July – December 2020 as it relates to our COVID-19 recovery and response program and three workforce financial wellness partners. Data in the last insight is reflective of data from the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration. This data is not reflective of the entire CFR portfolio.

Workforce Financial Wellness Spending Trends:
The “Other” category includes spending on donations, education, insurance, medical, transportation, self-care, services, and bills–other.