Leading national credit counseling nonprofit ACCC participates in MassSaves financial education summit featuring keynote speaker Deb Goldberg.
Boston, MA – May 2, 2015
National financial education and credit counseling nonprofit American Consumer Credit Counseling recently participated in a statewide financial education summit hosted by MassSaves.
The summit, called “Financial Education: Teach it, build it, coach it, spread it, love it!” featured keynote speaker and Massachusetts Treasurer Deborah Goldberg. It also brought together a wide range of finance, economic, education and nonprofit leaders for several panels that took place at the UMass Center in Springfield on May 1st.
During the event, ACCC Education and Development Leader and Trainer Matt Paradise moderated a panel on innovative learning opportunities that can improve the financial skills and capabilities of young people. Also participating in that panel were executives from Leominster Credit Union, Chicopee Savings Bank and HarborOne Community Bank.
“This tremendous MassSaves event brought together some of Massachusetts’ top financial leaders to discuss a variety of critical economic and financial education issues, and our organization was honored to participate in this summit,” said Steve Trumble, President and CEO of American Consumer Credit Counseling, which is based in Newton, Mass. “Financial literacy among the youth remains a challenge in Massachusetts and across the nation, and we need to make sure our young people have access to the education, resources and skills they need to become thriving financial adults.”
Many adult budget conscious consumers admit they received little to no personal finance education as children, according to a recent survey by ACCC. Nearly 65 percent of those polled by ACCC admitted they were without financial education before the age of 16. Just 14 percent of those surveyed said they started learning about budgeting and finance before the age of 11. An overwhelming majority – 75 percent – said they still lack education on investing and retirement.
The ACCC panel on youth and financial education was one of several that took place during the summit hosted by MassSaves – a broad coalition of public and private stakeholders that work with youth and adults to improve the quality and delivery of financial education across the state so that they may avoid credit problems in the future
Its goal is to make Massachusetts a national model for financial confidence and empowerment. MassSaves Coalition members are passionate about a wide range of financial issues, including education, personal finance, safe and affordable financial products, and economic security and justice.
MassSaves is an initiative of The Midas Collaborative, a statewide non-profit organization that promotes financial education and asset-building programs and projects. For more information on MassSaves, please visit www.MassSaves.org
ACCC is a 501(c)3 organization that provides free credit counseling, bankruptcy counseling, and housing counseling to consumers nationwide in need of financial literacy education and money management. For more information, contact ACCC:
• For credit counseling, call 800-769-3571
• For bankruptcy counseling, call 866-826-6924
• For housing counseling, call 866-826-7180
• Or visit us online at ConsumerCredit.com
American Consumer Credit Counseling (ACCC) is a nonprofit credit counseling 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to empowering consumers to achieve financial management and debt relief through education, credit counseling, and debt management solutions. ACCC provides individuals with practical debt solutions for solving financial problems and recognizes that consumers’ financial difficulties are often not the result of poor spending habits, but more frequently from extenuating circumstances beyond their control. As one of the nation’s leading providers of financial education and credit counseling services, ACCC’s certified credit advisors work with consumers to help them determine the best plan of action to get out of debt and regain financial stability. ACCC holds an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and is a member of the Association of Independent Consumer Credit Counseling Agencies. For more information or to access free financial education resources, log on to ConsumerCredit.com or visit TalkingCentsBlog.com.
