Bankers will celebrate Get Smart About Credit Day on Oct. 18 and throughout the month by visiting classrooms across the country to present lessons on important financial obstacles facing young adults, including paying for college, building good credit habits, managing money, protecting their identity and banking as a career.
Last year, nearly 5,700 bankers delivered these lessons to more than 173,000 teens as a part of the program. Presentations took place in every U.S. state, as well as the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“America’s banks see financial education as an essential component to building strong, thriving communities,” said Corey Carlisle, executive director of the ABA Foundation. “Their continued commitment to Get Smart About Credit has helped encourage millions of young minds to think critically about their financial future.”
This year, Get Smart About Credit will be sponsored by Citi, Fiserv, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo.
The ABA Foundation is offering a free informational webinar on Sept. 13 at 1 p.m. ET for interested bankers, and will provide registrants with real-time customer support and program materials in both English and Spanish.
Bankers interested in participating can sign up online at aba.com/GetSmart. Registered banks will be featured on a list of participating banks on the ABA Foundation’s website and in press materials. Since 1997, the ABA Foundation’s financial education programs have reached more than 10.3 million young people through 300,000 banker presentations.
The American Bankers Association is the voice of the nation’s $17 trillion banking industry, which is composed of small, regional and large banks that together employ more than 2 million people, safeguard $13 trillion in deposits and extend nearly $10 trillion in loans.