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Free money education for 100,000 struggling families
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
Writes Hazel Cottrell
hazel.cottrell@consumerchoices.co.uk
A £3million boost from Nationwide will enable charity Citizens Advice to provide finance education to thousands of struggling Brits across the country.
Nationwide (www.nationwide.co.uk) today launched ‘MoneyActive’ - a three-year partnership with Citizens Advice (CAB) (www.citizensadvice.org.uk) which aims to help 100,000 people with free finance education.
| “CAB volunteers will provide completely independent and impartial advice.” |
CAB said in February that its volunteers were dealing with an average of 7,241 new debt problems every day.
Nationwide’s £3million investment will allow CAB to increase the number of volunteers involved in financial education work from 100 to over 1,400. These volunteers will provide financial capability training to the public, equipping them with the skills to budget, borrow and save with confidence.
According to David Harker, chief executive of Citizens Advice, debt problems continue to be “the number one issue” that Citizens Advice Bureaux see. He said that with the support of Nationwide, thousands more people can be helped.
Dan Mace, a MoneyActive volunteer, believes this project will help CAB “reach the right audiences on a face-to-face basis”. He said he is looking forward to taking MoneyActive “to more schools, frontline workers, prisoners, carers, single parents and others” in his area.
Chris Eagle, commercial manager at CreditChoices.co.uk, reminds people looking for financial advice to ensure they seek it from an independent source.
He said: “A recent investigation by Which? found that NatWest’s MoneySense service was not always delivering the impartial advice it promised – worryingly only four out of 20 Which? researchers who attended a MoneySense session were provided with the impartial information advertised.
“Although Nationwide are providing the funding for the project above, the CAB volunteers are not affiliated with the building society, will have no hidden agenda and will provide completely independent and impartial advice.”