Real Solutions - A National Credit Union Foundation Program

From CUNA News Now – More than 12,000 free tax preparation sites will be open nationwide this tax season with an army of volunteers to help low- and moderate-income households with their tax preparation, according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Credit unions will be among them.

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.

This Op-ed piece originally appeared in the 12/14/11 issue of the Credit Union Times:

It should come as no surprise that financial education is critical and sorely-needed. A survey from The Hartford Financial Services Group found that more than three-quarters of students report that they wish they had more help preparing for their personal finances. Unfortunately, some educators are not providing a financial education course and may be unprepared to teach the subject, according to a report from the Financial Literacy and Education Commission. As a result, many lack the confidence to teach it to students.

In a segment on understanding a line of credit and where they are available, Biz Kid$ recently filmed at Actors Federal Credit Union and Montauk Credit Union in New York, N.Y. The segment was filmed for an episode from Season five of Biz Kid$, which is the Emmy Award winning and credit union funded public television series that teaches kids about money management and entrepreneurship.

The video above was put together by the Mississippi Credit Union Association and will be used to promote their 2012 FiCEP Class and to create a greater awareness for the program. Their enhanced version of the Credit Union Financial Counseling Certification Program (FiCEP) is available to credit union staff thanks to a collaboration between the National Credit Union Foundation’s REAL Solutions® effort, Credit Union National Association’s Center for Professional Development (CUNA CPD), and the league.

In 2011, the National Credit Union Foundation (NCUF) and its REAL Solutions® program conducted a comprehensive national study of credit-union provided member financial education to provide state leagues and the broader credit union movement with information that quantifies the extent to which credit unions advance consumer financial literacy and decision-making. Working with state credit union leagues/associations, NCUF’s goal is to provide data that can be used in public awareness-building and related outreach efforts to demonstrate the power of credit union education and counseling initiatives, and to help credit unions implement additional financial education products, tools and programs for members/consumers.

Experienced Michigan credit union financial counselors share their best practices and financial counseling program details in a guide called Financial Counseling Best Practices that is now available on the Michigan Credit Union League website.

From CUNA News Now – The Pennsylvania Credit Union Association and the Pennsylvania Credit Union Foundation, through the National Credit Union Foundation’s REAL Solutions Project Initiative, sponsored their first Financial Reality Fair at the state Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa.

Have you seen this? It’s a neat tool I came across recently. It’s from the folks at Bank On and JoinBankOn.org by CFED in partnership with the San Francisco Office of Financial Empowerment, the National League of Cities and the New America Foundation, with support from the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

We’ve just released the first 1-page case study from the National Credit Union Foundation’s (NCUF)forthcoming national report from NCUF showing how the credit union movement is making a difference through financial education and counseling. This case study on Schoolsfirst Federal Credit Union is from the section of the report on classroom presentations.

Knowing the consumer need for trustworthy financial guidance while tight credit union budgets often restrict the number of staff able to attend a live training school, the Michigan Credit Union League (MCUL) offered a unique guided self-study financial counseling training program last year that resulted in 72 new Certified Credit Union Financial Counselors from 33 Michigan credit unions. Since then, MCUL has reached an estimated 170 credit union staff and more than1,850 consumers.