Released: March 31, 2009

Stipends help make communities MoneyWi$e

Consumer Action and Capital One provide small grants to local groups for consumer education

Contact: .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), Consumer Action, 415-777-9648 and .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address), Capital One, 703-720-2371

San Francisco — (March 31, 2009) – National consumer advocacy group Consumer Action and Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF) announced today that their joint MoneyWi$e financial literacy program will award 18 stipends totaling $53,000 to community groups to help support and supplement local financial literacy programs in several states.

 

Recipient groups have attended MoneyWi$e trainings, the first program of its kind to combine free, multilingual financial education materials, curricula and teaching aids with regional meetings and roundtables to train community-based organization staff so that consumers at all income levels and walks of life can be reached. The groups will utilize the MoneyWi$e curriculum to educate local consumers on personal finance basics like avoiding trouble with credit and becoming successful homeowners, among other topics.

“Community groups are on the front line with consumers and we applaud the work these groups are doing to help educate their clients,” said Ken McEldowney, Executive Director of Consumer Action. “The ability to manage personal finances can mean the difference between fiscal stability and barely getting by. We are pleased to partner with Capital One on the MoneyWi$e program and to work with these local community groups helping to prepare individuals for a more financially sound future.”

“In today’s economy it is more important than ever for consumers to have access to and an understanding of financial fundamentals,” said Diana Don, Director of Financial Education for Capital One. “The MoneyWi$e stipends support the efforts of community educators to help a diverse group of individuals, including teenagers, immigrants and seniors, become financially literate. We are pleased to offer our help to these organizations and are proud of the important community service they provide.”

Community based organizations teaching financial education in California, Louisiana, Massachusetts and Texas will receive stipends for programs designed to make an impact on the financial health of their communities. (Full list is below.)

Capital One and Consumer Action have also partnered on the MoneyWi$e eLearning tool, an interactive financial education tool designed to help promote financial literacy by providing consumers with free access to the information and tools they need to make smart financial choices available. The audio-enabled course modules are available in both English and Spanish and offer consumers printable tip sheets, financial calculators, and case studies on a variety of money management topics. Click here to experience the course. (You must disable your pop-up blocker to use the course.)

For more information on MoneyWi$e, Consumer Action and Capital One’s unique national financial literacy program, visit the MoneyWi$e web site (www.money-wise.org).

MoneyWi$e

Consumer Action and Capital One first launched the MoneyWi$e partnership in November 2001. Since then, the program has produced and distributed a series of financial education modules designed to enable community leaders to help consumers understand the basics of credit and credit repair, saving and budgeting, balancing a checkbook, and how to read a credit report among others. By providing free brochures in multiple languages (English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese), the MoneyWi$e program is able to address financial education across both income and ethnic barriers.

Consumer Action provides financial education to its community-based organization (CBOs) partners using two primary channels: through the distribution of free materials online (on this site and on www.money-wise.org) and through its network of more than 11,000 community-based organizations nationwide. Working with this network, the MoneyWi$e program also holds "train the trainer" seminars around the country where Consumer Action educates community organization staff on how MoneyWi$e materials and curriculum can be used most effectively. Participants are invited to apply for stipends to use the MoneyWi$e materials more extensively in the community.

About Capital One

Capital One Financial Corporation (www.capitalone.com) is a financial holding company whose subsidiaries, which include Capital One, N.A. and Capital One Bank (USA), N.A., collectively had $109 billion in deposits and $210 billion in total managed assets as of December 31, 2008. In addition, Capital One's newly acquired subsidiary, Chevy Chase Bank, F.S.B., had more than $16 billion in total managed assets and $13 billion in deposits as of December 31, 2008. Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Capital One offers a broad spectrum of financial products and services to consumers, small businesses and commercial clients. Capital One, N.A. and Chevy Chase Bank, F.S.B. have approximately 1,000 branch locations primarily in New York, New Jersey, Texas, Louisiana, Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. A Fortune 500 company, Capital One trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "COF" and is included in the S&P 100 index.

About Consumer Action

Consumer Action is a national non-profit education and advocacy organization founded in San Francisco in 1971. Consumer Action serves consumers nationwide by advancing consumer rights, referring consumers to complaint-handling agencies and publishing multilingual educational materials. Consumer Action also advocates for consumers in the media and before lawmakers and conducts comparison surveys for consumers on credit cards, banking and telecommunications issues.

2009 MoneyWi$e Stipend Recipients

California

Louisiana

• New Economics for Women
• Pasadena Neighborhood Housing Services
• Community Development Corporation, Inc.
• Consumer Credit Counseling Services of New Orleans
• Desire Community Housing Corporation
• LSU Agricultural Center
• Opportunities Industrialization Center

Massachusetts

• Mujeres Unidas en Accion (MUA)

Texas

• Advocacy Resource Center for Housing
• Azteca Economic Development & Preservation Corp.
• Community Service Agency of South Texas, Inc.
• Consumer Credit Counseling Service-Rio Grande Valley
• Empowerment Seminars
• Loaves & Fishes of the Rio Grande Valley
• Lower Rio Grande Valley Development Council Corporation
• Palmer Drug Abuse Program in Brownsville
• Proyecto Azteca, Inc.
• South Texas Civil Rights Project (Oficina Legal del Pueblo Unido)

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