ALEXANDRIA, Va.—No fooling. April 1 marks the beginning of National Financial Literacy Month, and credit unions, their trade associations and even their regulator have a number of related initiatives in place. CUToday.info will have coverage throughout the month.
NCUA Board Chairman Debbie Matz issued a statement calling on credit unions to help members to learn how to manage and protect their finances. The agency will also host a related webinar, Twitter chat and new resources on its website.
“An educated consumer can make better choices to build financial security, and creating those educated consumers is an important part of NCUA’s mission,” Matz said. “During Financial Literacy Month, we encourage credit unions to take advantage of NCUA’s financial literacy resources and programing to help their members become more informed.”
NCUA said it plans to introduce new information resources, including a Financial Literacy Resources webpage and a video on understanding payday lending, during April. The agency also has several planned activities, including:
- Hosting a webinar for credit unions, “Your Mission into Action: Developing Youth Financial Literacy and Savings Programs,” on Wednesday, April 22, beginning at 2 p.m. ET. Registration information will be available soon. There will be no charge for this webinar.
- Moderating a financial literacy Twitter chat on April 22 beginning at 11 a.m. ET, hosted by Kenneth Worthey, financial literacy and outreach analyst with NCUA’s Office of Consumer Protection. Credit unions and consumers are encouraged to follow the conversation and contribute using the #NCUAChat hashtag on Twitter. Participants can submit questions beforehand to socialmedia@ncua.gov.
- Participating in the Financial Literacy Day event on Capitol Hill on Friday, April 24, to educate lawmakers, congressional staffers and the public about federally insured credit unions and the role of NCUA. The event is convened by the Jump$tart Coalition, Junior Achievement USA and the Council for Economic Education.
Beginning in April, consumers can also check NCUA’s MyCreditUnion.gov and the agency’s financial literacy site, Pocket Cents, to get up-to-date information about saving, borrowing, managing credit and protecting themselves from frauds and scams.