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Visa Inc’s financial literacy initiative was created in 1995 and has grown into a robust, multi-faceted program used by parents, teachers, students and consumers of all ages around the globe. Visa’s financial literacy programs are being used in more than 30 countries, and our program websites receive more than 1 million page views each month. Our award-winning Practical Money Skills for Life and What’s My Score programs are used widely by educators, consumers and parents so they can learn the fundamentals of personal finance.
Practical Money Skills for Life
Our flagship Practical Money Skills for Life program includes a robust classroom curriculum and interactive resources for parents and consumers. Among the most popular components are the educational video games. Working with the National Football League, Visa promotes financial literacy in high schools throughout the U.S. with Financial Football, a personal finance video game. Since 2005, Visa has reached agreements with 29 state governments to distribute Financial Football at no cost to every high school in those states (nearly 12,000 high schools so far). Financial Soccer rolled out in 30 countries in the months leading up to the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ and is available in ten languages. Additionally, Visa has partnered with 6 state governments to co-brand and distribute free copies of Financial Soccer to every high school in those states
Visa runs a Practical Money Skills for Life Facebook fan page, YouTube channel, and Twitter account—all focused on financial literacy. Another direct communications channel, the Practical Money Skills for Life monthly newsletter, has over 65,000 subscribers and provides educators with timely articles, tips and curriculum updates.
Visa has partnered with several businesses to launch a unique employer-based financial literacy program to help workers with money management. As part of this, Visa launched a program with McDonald’s to provide personal finance education to 850,000 of the restaurant chain’s employees, the largest program of its kind in the United States.
Each year, Visa partners with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago to hold the Financial Literacy & Education Summit. This summit convenes international leaders in finance and education to discuss a variety of topics, including showcasing best practices that can be applied to ensure that consumers of all ages have the necessary tools and resources to make wise financial decisions.
What’s My Score?
The What's My Score program includes free online tools aimed at the unique needs of college students and young adults. What's My Score resources include the Money 101 curriculum, which teaches the basics of budgeting, spending, online banking and understanding credit. It includes a hands-on student workbook.
Students can use What’s My Score’s online tools to get information on everything from finding a job to getting college loans deferred. They can also take our Credit 101 tutorial to gauge their understanding of key credit issues, and read our What’s My Score blog. With several posts weekly, our blog covers important financial issues for today’s college students—from finding a job to building credit without a credit card.
Backing Up Our Efforts
Visa also believes in the power of financial literacy to produce results. We've conducted research illustrating the impact of such programs and continue to make the case for programs that will develop the financial muscles of American children and young adults. One example is the landmark Wells Fargo Study showing the effectiveness of basic financial education.
The Wells Fargo Card Services research showed that first-time cardholders could substantially improve their use of credit by reviewing online lessons about credit usage. In fact, first-time cardholders who reviewed the lessons had 50 percent fewer late payments and over-limit charges and 28 percent had lower revolving balances compared with those who did not review the lessons. The full results of the research can be viewed here.
Next Steps
Visa’s financial literacy programs will continue growing to meet the needs of our clients and their cardholders around the world. We remain committed to helping consumers manage their money successfully by partnering with clients and third parties to deliver compelling financial materials to those who need it the most.
