Print

Each fall bankers use Get Smart About Credit day to teach young adults how to handle and use credit responsibly. Bankers, thank you for all that you are doing to build a generation of wise credit users.

Share your Get Smart About Credit experience with others by sending a picture along with a two-sentence caption that includes your bank's name and the group that you reached to edufoun@aba.com. Read about other events below.

BBVA Compass in Birmingham, Ala. took credit education to the streets hosting street events in Birmingham, Ala., Jacksonville, Fla., and Phoenix, as well as in Denver, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston and San Antonio. BBVA Compass's street events also brought spokespeople to the streets to talk with residents about using credit wisely and the new CARD Act.

Bank of the West headquartered in San Francisco launched their Get Smart About Credit activities by joining the California State Controller and California Community Colleges to participate in the Take Control: Your Finances. Your Education. Your Future., forum.  They also hosted a booth at a fair held in conjunction with the forum.

Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst joined representatives of the Texas Bankers Association and the Dallas Federal Reserve in honor of Get Smart About Credit Day and to speak with area students on the importance of financial education.

Kent Howze, of SouthPoint Bank, spoke to the senior class at Parkway Christian Academy in Birmingham, Ala., on personal finance.  The presentation included the basics of personal finance and the importance of being financially responsible at an early age.

Employees Stacy Slaughter, Carla Flemon and Norman Leonard of BancorpSouth located in Jonesboro, Ark. talked with students at an area high school about ways to establish and maintain good credit.

The Bank of Guam and members of the Association of Government Accountants celebrated Get Smart About Credit Day by discussing the credit "facts of life" in ten area high schools.

Bank of Hawaii gave Get Smart About Credit presentations to area junior and senior high school students. Students were given Bank of Hawaii piggy banks.

TCF Bank employees gave credit presentations to Chicago Public High School students. In total, TCF Bank used 22 presentations to reach more than 650 students.

Centier Bank made credit presentations to Hammond Adult Education students in conjunction with Get Smart About Credit and Money Smart Week.

Greg Jones, customer service manager at Bar Harbor Bank & Trust in Rockland, Maine taught Rockland District High School students to use credit wisely.

Haverhill Bank's Shannon Pettis presented the "Straight Talk about Credit Cards" lesson to Haverhill High School students as part of the Getting Smart About Credit Program. Haverhill Bank was one of 11 banks in Massachusetts to participate in the annual program.

Ozark Mountain Bank delivered Get Smart About Credit presentations to all Branson High School business students.

Loan officer Rebecca Reid and loan assistant Sherry Weeks of Guaranty Bank & Trust presented credit lessons to more than 100 students at South Panola High School. They also taught lessons in Batesville, Miss.

Bank of Nevada employees celebrated Get Smart about Credit Day with providing Valley High School in Las Vegas and Virgin Valley High School in Mesquite with lessons on the responsibilities of credit.

The East Carolina Bank's Beverly Meekins visited Mattamuskeet High School Seniors in Hyde County, N.C.to give Get Smart About Credit lessons. The lessons focused on credit worthiness and identity theft.

Arminta Torbett, a NCB branch manager, spoke to juniors and seniors at Hillsboro High School in Hillsboro, Ohio about understanding credit and how it works.

Vice presidents Lori Pierce and Marvin Dement of First Bank and Trust Company of Perry, Okla. met with Perry High School seniors to teach them the importance of good credit habits and financial education.  Topics covered included educating teens about managing their accounts, understanding a credit report, building a good credit history, proper uses of credit and preventing identity theft.

BancorpSouth's David Whitenton discussed credit and debit cards with Fayette Ware High school's economics students.

Fifty Zions Bank employees, located in Salt Lake City, Utah discussed the perks and possible pitfalls of credit with students in Iowa and Utah. President and CEO Scott Anderson headlined Zions Bank's feature event at Kearns High School with a credit report activity.

Trupoint Bank of Grundy, Va. representatives reached 1,200 students with Get Smart About Credit lessons. Bankers discussed budgeting basics, loans, credit worthiness and how to protect themselves from identity theft.