Prize-Linked Savings

Prize-Linked Savings (PLS) transforms savings into a fun, exciting experience by giving savers the chance to win monthly, quarterly, and annual prizes by depositing into their PLS account.

PLS models have been successful internationally, and seeing the opportunity to introduce it in the U.S., we forged partnerships with a group of Michigan credit unions to create a large-scale PLS pilot—Save to Win—in 2009. Since then, more PLS products have launched at banks and credit unions across the country—such as WINcentive Savings and Lucky Savers—as well as on prepaid cards through Prize Savings in partnership with Walmart and Green Dot Bank.

Prizes

For centuries, prizes have motivated people to act. Americans spend $70 billion on lottery tickets each year in the hopes of winning a prize. The possibility of winning creates excitement, anticipation, and engagement. At Commonwealth, we apply this insight to motivate positive financial behaviors that lead to financial security and opportunity.

Commonwealth’s first application of this insight was to promote savings behaviors at credit unions. We have since experimented with prizes to promote tax time saving and saving on prepaid cards. Our research results have repeatedly found that prizes provide the motivation needed to get people to start saving and build a savings habit. We believe that the power of prizes can be applied to solve other financial challenges.

Prize-Linked Savings Projects

Prize Savings was launched by Walmart and Green Dot in partnership with Commonwealth in December 2016 and demonstrates the use of prizes to address the financial challenge of savings.

Save to Win was the first large-scale pilot of Prize-Linked Savings (PLS) in the U.S. In 2009, it was introduced by Commonwealth in Michigan in conjunction with the Michigan Credit Union League.

WINcentive Savings is a Prize-Linked Savings product offered in Minnesota by the Minnesota Credit Union Network (MCUN) that launched in January 2016 at 14 credit unions. 

Prize-Linked Savings Policy

Prize-Linked Savings (PLS) is an application of the use of prizes to address the financial challenges of savings.

Commonwealth (then D2D Fund) played a critical role in passing the American Savings Promotion Act (ASPA) which was signed into law in 2014. ASPA authorizes financial institutions to conduct “savings promotion raffles” (aka prize-linked savings) in which the sole consideration required for a chance of winning is the deposit of a specified amount of money in a savings account or program.

On top of federal legislation, 34 states have taken additional measures to allow state-chartered financial institutions to offer prize-linked savings products to their customers.

Our goal is to pass legislation in all 50 states. If you are interested in learning how to bring prize-linked savings legislation to your state, please reach out to us.

Learn more about PLS-Enabling State Legislation.

Map of the United States, with 34 states that allow Prize-Linked Savings highlighted in yellow; three states with PLS legislation highlighted in blue, and the rest highlighted in grey.