U.S. primarily speak Spanish at home. 28 Recognizing
central point of access to CFPB
that at least some portion of this population could be
online resources available in
well served by Spanish language resources, the
Spanish.
Bureau launched CFPB en Español, a Bureau website
that provides Spanish-speaking consumers a central
point of access to the Bureau’s resources available in Spanish. The website has four major
components: a homepage that highlights CFPB services; Ask CFPB content in Spanish; a
complaints page that highlights the phone number consumers can call to submit a complaint in
Spanish; and an About Us page that features a Spanish-language video and introductory content
about how the CFPB works to protect consumers. The website was created using responsive
design, meaning it is optimized for use on both mobile devices and computers in order to better
serve all consumers. The website launched in May 2013 and is available at
3.1.4 K-12 parent education tools
The Offices of Financial Education and Consumer
We offer a set of Ask CFPB
Engagement launched a parent education campaign
questions and answers to help
in April 2013 to engage parents and guardians in the
parents teach their children about
financial education of their children by encouraging
money basics.
discussion of money management topics at home and
providing tools for parents to have money
conversations with their children. We offer a set of Ask CFPB questions and answers especially
for parents, which is available by going to consumerfinance.gov/askcfpb/ and clicking on the 28 U.S. Census Bureau, Language Spoken at Home by Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over,
pe=table (last visited June 27, 2013).
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“Especially for” link for Parents, or at
http://www.consumerfinance.gov/askcfpb/search?q=&selected_facets=audience_exact%3APar
ents. We hosted a Twitter chat with Bureau staff and financial experts focused on how to have the “money talk” with kids. We also released a Pinterest graphic for parents to use in teaching
kids to save and plan for items they want to purchase. This campaign is part of the Office of
Financial Education’s K-12 initiative, discussed below.
3.1.5 Publications
GENERAL
The Office of Financial Education has created a range of publications for consumers that provide
straightforward information about money management and other financial issues. These
publications include brochures about how to avoid foreclosure, what to do if you cannot pay
your credit card bills, checking your credit report, avoiding checking account fees, tax-time
saving, and other topics. In collaboration with the Office of Fair Lending and Equal Opportunity,
the Office of Financial Education created a brochure on how to protect against credit
discrimination. The Bureau makes most of these resources available in both English and
Spanish, provides them for download or bulk ordering at promotions.usa.gov/cfpbpubs.html,
and distributes them at Bureau public events. As of May 31, 2013, the Bureau had distributed
over 198,000 copies of its publications and over 25,000 had been downloaded. The three most
popular resources ordered to date have been Check Your Credit Report, Save Some and Spend
Some, and Pay Attention to Your Credit Report.
OLDER AMERICANS
Reverse mortgage guide
The Office for Older Americans developed a plain language guide to reverse mortgages for
consumers, with input from subject matter experts in the Bureau’s Research, Markets and
Regulations Division. The guide highlights key decision points to help potential reverse
mortgage borrowers assess the financial ramifications of securing a reverse mortgage, including
payout and product options and alternatives. The guide is available on the CFPB website at
http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201206_cfpb_Reverse_Mortgage_Guidance.pdf and through other federal agencies, non-profit organizations, and housing counselors throughout
the country.
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CFPB FINANCIAL LITERACY ANNUAL REPORT, JULY 2013
Senior designations report and guide
In April 2013, the Office for Older Americans released a report to Congress and the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission entitled Senior Designations for Financial Advisers:
Reducing Consumer Confusion and Risks, which is available at
files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201304_CFPB_OlderAmericans_Report.pdf. 29 The report describes consumer confusion surrounding the wide variety of designations used by financial
advisers to signify expertise in senior financial issues. The report includes recommendations to
help older consumers verify credentials, improve the consistency of standards for acquiring the
credentials, improve the consistency of standards for conduct of designees, and reduce
consumer confusion. The Office for Older Americans expects to release a consumer guide to help
older consumers understand and verify senior designation and certification titles later in 2013.
Lay fiduciaries guide
The Office for Older Americans is producing user-friendly how-to guides for agents acting under
powers of attorney, guardians, trustees, Social Security representative payees, Veterans Affairs
fiduciaries, and others who may handle financial affairs for older Americans and other
vulnerable adults. Family members and others serving as fiduciaries often have no experience
handling someone else’s money. The materials include a set of generic national guides, state-
specific guides for six states, and a replication manual for other states. The guides explain what a fiduciary does, record-keeping and prudent investment requirements, limitations on
commingling funds, and other critical basics for managing a vulnerable adult’s money. The
guides also cover how to spot financial exploitation and protect assets from unfair, deceptive,
and abusive practices by third parties. The guides are expected to be released in 2013.
3.2 Collaborative initiatives
In order to reach consumers, the Bureau is developing collaborations with a broad range of
partners and intermediaries, including other federal agencies; state, local, and tribal
governments; private and non-profit organizations; and schools, workplaces, and faith
29 CFPB, Senior Designations for Financial Advisers: Reducing Consumer Confusion and Risks (April 18, 2013), available at files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201304_CFPB_OlderAmericans_Report.pdf.
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communities and other neighborhood organizations. These collaborative initiatives take many
forms. In general, the Bureau seeks to design financial education initiatives in a manner that
leverages and complements effective federal and other efforts already underway, or utilizes the
partner or intermediary’s unique resources, expertise, consumer relationships, or infrastructure
to reach consumers at opportune times with relevant information, tools, or other supports. 30
3.2.1 Tax-time savings: collaboration with Volunteer Income
Tax Assistance sites
The Offices of Financial Education and Financial Empowerment developed an initiative to
encourage Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)-eligible recipients to save some portion of their
EITC refunds as a seed to grow savings. The EITC is a refundable tax credit, and for many low-
to-moderate income families represents the largest lump sum of money they will receive all year.
The initiative uses the free tax preparation services offered through Volunteer Income Tax
Assistance (VITA) sites to reach EITC-eligible individuals and families at an ideal moment in
their financial lives – when they learn the amount of their EITC credit and expected tax
refund. 31 The initiative also encourages the use of free tax preparation services, and the use of electronic filing and direct deposit as an alternative to more expensive products and services.
This initiative fulfills a statutory mandate for the Office of Financial Education, to provide
consumers with wealth building strategies and access to financial services during the
preparation process to claim the EITC. 32
During the 2011 tax filing season, the Bureau provided materials to 3,500 VITA sites across the
country, which collectively assisted over 3 million taxpayers. The Bureau sought to encourage
these taxpayers to pre-commit to saving a portion of their refund at the time their taxes were
30 Many of these collaborations involve the Bureau’s fellow member agencies in the Financial Literacy and Education Commission.
31 The VITA program offers free tax return preparation help to people who make $51,000 or less through IRS-certified volunteers, at sites located at community and neighborhood centers, libraries, schools, shopping malls, and other local venues. See generally Internal Revenue Serv., Free Tax Return Preparation for You by Volunteers,
www.irs.gov/Individuals/Free-Tax-Return-Preparation-for-You-by-Volunteers (last visited June 27, 2013).
32 See 12 U.S.C. § 5493(d)(2)(F).
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CFPB FINANCIAL LITERACY ANNUAL REPORT, JULY 2013
being prepared by providing training information for VITA tax preparers about how to talk
about savings, and through three strategies:
Priming: The Bureau developed a poster intended to suggest the idea of saving to
taxpayers before they were asked to make a savings decision.
Pre-commitment: While their taxes were being prepared, taxpayers were given a
worksheet to help them determine how much they could comfortably save.
Automation: Taxpayers were encouraged to direct-deposit a portion of their refunds
into a savings account or savings bonds.
The Bureau built on these efforts in the 2012 tax filing season. For example, we updated the 2011
training materials, poster, and worksheet and made them available to VITA tax preparers via
online fulfillment or download, which enables us to measure how many tax preparers obtain the
materials.
3.2.2 K-12 financial education
In April 2013, the Bureau launched an initiative to
build the financial capability of youth, and thus
Schools provide the opportunity
future generations of American consumers. This
to transform the financial lives of
initiative seeks to foster inclusion of financial
a generation of Americans by
education in K-12 curriculum and facilitate teacher
introducing key money and
training in financial education. To launch the
finance-related concepts early,
initiative, the Office of Financial Education hosted a
and building on that foundation
national conference of financial education experts,
through the K-12 years.
teachers, and non-profit and governmental leaders
from local, state, and federal levels involved in K-12 financial education. 33 Recognizing the broad range of work that others already are doing in this field, the initiative seeks to strengthen the impact and effectiveness of K-12 financial education efforts by fostering the sharing of, and
building upon, best practices; facilitating partnerships; and collectively identifying, and seeking 33 Conference proceedings are expected to be available on the Bureau’s website in August 2013.
35
CFPB FINANCIAL LITERACY ANNUAL REPORT, JULY 2013
to fill, critical gaps. Conference panels addressed defining a shared vision, promising practices
in integrating financial education in schools, the use of hands-on approaches, and research and
evaluation to document the effectiveness of classroom financial education. The Bureau issued a
white paper recommending strategies to improve personal financial management capability of
youth, which is available at http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201304_cfpb_OFE-Policy-
3.2.3 Foundations: building an effective financial workplace
Through a joint effort between the Bureau’s Office of Financial Education and Office of Human
Capital, the Bureau is developing a financial education program to help employees become
effective managers of their personal finances. Using findings from recent workplace research
studies, the effort will combine tools such as automatic enrollment in retirement plans with
financial planning assistance and other educational resources. The goal is to develop effective
practices in the workplace that can be shared with other federal agencies as well as state and
local governments and private sector employers. 35
3.2.4 Work with faith-based communities
Understanding the role that faith-based communities play in building neighborhoods and
supporting their members, the Office of Financial Education, in coordination with the Office of
Community Affairs within the Division of External Affairs, is holding a series of webinars in
2013 with leaders of faith-based organizations to introduce participants to CFPB’s financial
education tools and resources.
34 See CFPB, Transforming the Financial Lives of a Generation of Young Americans: Policy Recommendations for Advancing K-12 Financial Education (April 2013), available at
http://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201304_cfpb_OFE-Policy-White-Paper-Final.pdf. The approach of introducing key financial concepts early and continuing to build on that foundation throughout the K-12 years aligns with the Financial Literacy and Education Commission’s 2013-2014 strategic focus on “Starting Early for Financial Success.” See supra page 24.
35 This program also aligns with the Financial Literacy and Education Commission’s “Starting Early for Financial Success” strategic focus, which includes an Early Career and Retirement component aimed at helping Americans plan and act for long-term financial well-being early in their careers by promoting financial education and capability in the workplace.
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CFPB FINANCIAL LITERACY ANNUAL REPORT, JULY 2013
3.2.5 Financial emergency preparedness: partnership with
the Federal Emergency Management Agency
The Office of Financial Education has partnered with the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA) to help consumers make informed financial decisions when preparing for and
recovering from natural or manmade disasters. FEMA consulted with the Bureau as it prepared
a financial preparedness page on its website, which is available at
ready.gov/financialpreparedness. The Bureau also joined FEMA in a webinar about financial preparedness decision making, which was presented to 939 participants representing
community groups, emergency assistance workers, faith-based organizations, and others. The
Bureau also provided input and a resources link for an Emergency Financial First Aid Kit to be
issued by FEMA.
3.2.6 Servicemembers
DEFENSE TRANSITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
In February 2012, Assistant Director Holly Petraeus received a request from Pentagon officials
asking the Office of Servicemember Affairs to assist in the creation of financial planning
materials for all servicemembers leaving the military. Experts from throughout the CFPB
worked with Servicemember Affairs to provide content for the Department of Defense
Transition Assistance Program curriculum. All of the military services are using this material to
assist servicemembers with the financial aspects of planning for a career change. The feedback
during the user testing period ranked the financial education module as the most popular
activity during the week-long transition training workshop.
JUDGE ADVOCATE GENERAL’S CORPS TRAINING
Servicemember Affairs’ education efforts have included providing subject-matter expertise to
the military legal community. Bureau staff provided instruction on several occasions at The
Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School located in Charlottesville, Virginia. The
Offices of Servicemember Affairs and Students also teamed up to provide instruction about
consumer risk in the student loan marketplace during an October 2012 legal assistance training
course. These efforts help advance the Office of Servicemember Affairs’ educational reach by
leveraging the extensive consumer law mission of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps.
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CFPB FINANCIAL LITERACY ANNUAL REPORT, JULY 2013
DELAYED ENTRY PROGRAM
In September 2012, the Office of Servicemember Affairs began developing a “just enough and
just in time” financial education experience to equip Delayed Entry Program (DEP) participants
with the information and education needed to make sound financial decisions in certain target
subject areas. DEP participants are individuals who have committed to join the military but have
not yet reported to boot camp. Our DEP education program aims to offer experiential education
that engages the interest and caters to the learning style of the recruit demographic. The Bureau
and the Department of Defense will work together to make course content and materials
available across the varied timelines and geographical locations of future recruits and across the
armed services. Introducing the Bureau as a resource to recruits through DEP should also set
the stage for future financial education efforts.
VIRTUAL FINANCIAL EDUCATION FORUM ON STUDENT LOANS
In March 2013, the Office of Servicemember Affairs teamed up with the Office for Students and
the Office of Consumer Engagement to deliver the Bureau’s first military-focused virtual
financial education forum by means of live webcast. The forum reached nearly 300 military
financial educators, legal assistance attorneys, and on-base college education counselors.
Participants learned about student loan servicing issues for servicemembers and CFPB
resources available to assist them. Content highlights from the event were relayed through social
media channels with a potential reach of approximately 25,000 individuals. External social
media partnerships with the Department of Defense and the Military Family Learning Network
were used to amplify the message to servicemembers stationed overseas, including individuals
at military bases located from the Middle East (Turkey) to East Asia (Okinawa) and a deployed
U.S. Navy unit operating off the coast of West Africa.
MILITARY SAVES WEEK
The Office of Servicemember Affairs used Military Saves Week in February 2012 as an
opportunity to distribute a video message to military units about the importance of saving for
goals. Military units are able to download the video from YouTube and post it on their own
social media channels. To date, there have been over 2,000 views of the video directly on
YouTube.
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CFPB FINANCIAL LITERACY ANNUAL REPORT, JULY 2013
3.2.7 Students
FINANCIAL AID SHOPPING SHEET
The Bureau partnered with the Department of Education to develop a “Financial Aid Shopping
Sheet” to help students and their parents make informed decisions about how to finance
postsecondary educational expenses. 36 Financial aid offers from colleges and universities often fail to make basic information clear, such as how much of a particular aid offer is made up of
loans that need to be paid back and how much comes from grants that do not. The Higher
Education Opportunity Act of 2008 required the Secretary of Education to develop a model
financial aid offer format to help students and their parents make informed decisions about how
to finance postsecondary educational expenses. 37 The shared mission to improve the shopping process for potential student borrowers made the CFPB and the Department of Education
natural partners in a Know Before You Owe project on student loans.
The Financial Aid Shopping Sheet is a standardized, easy-to-read form of financial aid award
letter that colleges and universities can send to prospective students. The Shopping Sheet is
designed to allow college applicants to better understand the debt implications of their college
choice and compare the costs of the schools to which they apply.
The agencies released a prototype shopping sheet in October 2011. The Secretary of Education
released the finalized Financial Aid Shopping Sheet in July 2012, and published an open letter to
college and university presidents, calling for schools to voluntarily adopt the shopping sheet.
In April 2012, the President of the United States issued an Executive Order requiring colleges
that accept Department of Defense Tuition Assistance Program funds to provide military
students with an offer letter based on the principles developed for the Financial Aid Shopping
Sheet, in order to provide better information to recipients of military and veteran education benefits. 38 The Executive Order also encourages colleges that accept Post-9/11 G.I. Bill benefits 36 The Financial Aid Shopping Sheet is available at http://collegecost.ed.gov/shopping_sheet.pdf.
37 Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2008, Pub. L. No. 110-315, § 484, 122 Stat. 3078, 3286 (codified at 20 U.S.C.
§ 1092 note).
38 Exec. Order No. 13607, 77 Fed. Reg. 25,861 (Apr. 27, 2012).
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to do the same. As of May 2013, 737 colleges and universities, with a combined enrollment of
3.47 million students, had voluntarily agreed to adopt the Financial Aid Shopping Sheet.
3.2.8 Older Americans
ELDER JUSTICE COORDINATING COUNCIL
The Bureau serves as a member agency of the Elder Justice Coordinating Council. The Elder
Justice Coordinating Council was established by the Elder Justice Act of 2009 to coordinate
activities related to elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation across relevant Federal, state, local, and private agencies and entities. 39 The Council is chaired by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), and the CFPB is one of 11 member agencies, in addition to HHS, that
HHS has identified for membership based on their administering programs related to abuse,
neglect, or financial exploitation of older Americans. The Bureau, through its Office for Older
Americans, is coordinating and building cooperative plans with its Council partners to address
mistreatment of elders. Older Americans’ staff members serve on the Elder Justice Interagency
Working Group that staffs the Council. The Working Group is developing recommendations and
proposed action steps for the Council based on white papers that were submitted by expert
witnesses at the Council’s inaugural meeting in October 2012.
FINANCIAL CRIMES ENFORCEMENT NETWORK
As an outgrowth of meetings between the Office for Older Americans and the Financial Crimes
Enforcement Network (FinCEN), a component of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, FinCEN
developed a report detailing incidences and trends in eld