Released: May 07, 2008

MoneyWi$e goes to Louisiana

Capital One and Consumer Action sponsor free financial literacy trainings

Contact: Linda Sherry, Consumer Action, 202-544-3088

New Orleans — National consumer advocacy group Consumer Action and Capital One Financial Corporation announced that their joint MoneyWi$e financial literacy partnership will provide two financial education training meetings this week to community groups in Louisiana.

The train-the-trainer seminars were held in Shreveport on May 6 and in New Orleans on May 8-9. Financial educators from Consumer Action will lead training sessions designed to teach local community groups how to talk to their clients about money and financial management. The seminars will focus on the fundamentals of financial management including: basic banking; budgeting; understanding credit; credit repair; understanding bankruptcy; and the fundamentals of homeownership.

“MoneyWi$e is now in its seventh year, and these meetings continue to be very popular and in high demand. A more than 100 community representatives from across Louisiana signed up to participate,” said Ken McEldowney, Executive Director of Consumer Action. “The MoneyWi$e program has equipped numerous nonprofit organizations with the tools and information they need to build solid financial education programs that empower local residents. This partnership is a critical investment in the future of our communities.”

“The MoneyWi$e program continues to positively impact communities across the country by providing the knowledge, tools and resources that consumers need to become better money managers,” said Diana Don, director of financial education for Capital One. “We applaud the efforts of local organizations to provide much-needed support and relevant information to their communities. These seminars are just one way we are able to assist these groups to continue to do what they do best: helping neighbors in their communities to help themselves.”

MoneyWi$e: Materials, Training and Seminars

Consumer Action and Capital One first launched the MoneyWi$e partnership in November 2001. Since then, the program has produced and distributed a series of MoneyWi$e educational materials to provide consumers with the building blocks for developing and honing personal finance skills, from saving and budgeting to balancing a checkbook, to understanding the basics of credit and credit repair and how parents can talk to teenagers about money. By providing free brochures in multiple languages (English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese), the MoneyWi$e program is able to address financial literacy across both income and ethnic barriers. More than 3,000 community groups have distributed three million MoneyWi$e brochures to date.

To learn more about the MoneyWi$e materials, visit the MoneyWi$e web site.