Capital One and Consumer Action Sponsor Free Financial Literacy Training for Boston Nonprofit Community Organizations
May 26, 2009 — Consumer advocacy group Consumer Action and leading financial services company Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE:COF) today announced that their joint MoneyWi$e financial literacy partnership will provide a financial training seminar for community groups in Boston.
The seminar will be held at the Sheraton Boston Hotel on May 27, 2009 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Financial educators from Consumer Action will lead training sessions designed to teach local community groups how to talk to their clients about money and financial management. The seminars will focus on the fundamentals of financial management including: creating spending plans, budgeting, handling credit problems and learning essential basic banking skills. Nearly 60 community representatives are signed up to participate. As an incentive for program participation, Consumer Action will reimburse travel costs for these organizations.
"The MoneyWi$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$e is now in its eighth year, and these meetings continue to be very valuable and in high demand," said Ken McEldowney, Executive Director of Consumer Action. "The MoneyWi$e program has equipped thousands of 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."
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$e brochures to date.
More information about MoneyWi$e and free downloads of our educational brochures are available online at www.money-wise.org.
About Capital One
Capital One Financial Corporation (www.capitalone.com) is a financial holding company whose subsidiaries, which include Capital One, N.A., Capital One Bank (USA), N.A., and Chevy Chase Bank, F.S.B., collectively had $121 billion in deposits and $150 billion in managed loans outstanding as of March 31, 2009. 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 nonprofit 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 annually conducts comparison surveys for consumers on credit cards, banking issues and telecommunications issues.
