Real Solutions - A National Credit Union Foundation Program

From CUNA News Now – The REAL Solutions Enhanced Financial Counseling Certification Program (FiCEP) has been brought back to Illinois for a second year with two modifications to allow as many Illinois credit unions as possible to participate in the program, said the Illinois Credit Union League.

Registration is now open for the Fall 2012 Credit Union Development Education (DE) training class taking place September 6-13 in Madison, Wis. Attendees of the six-day total immersion experience will learn about credit unions’ social responsibility and domestic and international development through interactive education and professional networking.

With the help of Montana Credit Unions for Community Development (MCUCD), credit unions in the state have embarked on a new program that will give their members access to both certified financial counselors and financial coaches.

For the first time, credit unions now have quantitative data to illustrate how the credit union movement is making a difference through financial education and counseling. The National Credit Union Foundation (NCUF) through its REAL Solutions™ program just released a free online report entitled “Credit Unions: Focused on Financial Capability Across the Nation,” which is the result of an almost yearlong data collection effort by NCUF with the help of state credit union leagues

According to an interesting new study, low-income consumers are more likely to order bigger portions of food (such as supersize meals) as a way to boost their status. It makes sense right? Typically people buy bigger homes, bigger cars, bigger TVs, etc. because bigger is perceived as better.