Category: Public Policy Blog
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Policy Points 44: Good Guys Answer the Call
Providing Safe, Affordable, and Profitable Small Loans as the Regulatory Landscape Evolves Read the full Policy Points here.
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As Public Funding Ends, Opportunities Remain to Help People Save
Southern Bancorp is committed to encouraging healthy savings habits, encouraging policy changes that incentivize individual and family savings programs, and removing policy barriers to accessing savings. That’s because…
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Thoughts on Emergency Savings …from the Shoulder of I-40
By James Owen, 2016-2017 Southern Bancorp Fellow For the past fifteen months, I have worked as a policy fellow at Southern Bancorp, learning about smart savings habits and…
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America Saves Week Comes to Mississippi and Arkansas
Financial emergencies don’t follow a schedule. Flat tires, leaky rooftops, or unexpected bills can pop-up without warning to disrupt your financial life, which is why Southern Bancorp and…
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Into the Light: A Survey of Arkansas Borrowers Seven Years after State Supreme Court Bans Usurious Payday Lending Rates
In 2009, the last Arkansas payday loan store closed for business. At the industry’s peak, three years earlier, payday lenders operated 275 stores across the Natural State. Arkansans…
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Turning Tax Time into Savings Time
When it comes to tax time, it’s probably safe to assume that most folks aren’t thinking about savings. But that’s exactly what we at Southern Bancorp had on…
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Teaching Public Benefit Recipients How to Fish
How Arkansas can Lessen Reliance on SNAP & TANF and Support Economic Independence by Lifting Asset Limits Read Policy Points 42 here.
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Rural Economic Mobility and Wealth Building
Despite the general economic recovery in the United States, income inequality and wealth inequality are expanding. Perhaps more critically, it is becoming more and more difficult for families…
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New CFED data showing state of family economic security in Arkansas
This week, the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED) released its annual Assets and Opportunity Scorecard. The Scorecard provides a comprehensive look at Americans’ capacity to accumulate wealth by…
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Banking in Rural America: Insight from a CDFI
As a rural community bank and U.S. Treasury certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI), Southern is fully aware of the importance of CDFIs in rural markets throughout the…