FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 20, 2001

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Tiffany Seibel 415-984-6192

Hispanic Families Feel Money Management Should Be One of the First Back-To-School Lessons

August 20, 2001 - As students head back to school, Hispanic parents say children lack the basic skills to successfully manage their money -- according to a national survey of Hispanic parents released today by Visa U.S.A. The survey indicates that Hispanic parents who give their high school age children allowances give $19.60 on average, but 72 percent say their oldest child does not have a budget for managing that money. Most Hispanics surveyed (93 percent) also note that they learned how to manage their finances through life experiences and the school of hard knocks and feel that schools should be required to teach a class in practical money skills.

According to the survey, most Hispanic parents (83 percent) look forward to back-to-school shopping and 86 percent say they try to use it as an opportunity to teach their child good money management. On average, Hispanic families shopping for back- to-school spend $251.70 per child on high school students, and nearly double that - $434.30 per child - for college-age students. An overwhelming 98 percent of Hispanic parents surveyed also say it's important to teach high school students good money management skills before they leave home.

"Hispanics parents are speaking up and it's clear they are concerned about young people's ability to be financially successful later in life," said Lilia Mojica, a Hispanic outreach and education expert and active advocate for the Hispanic community. "Hispanic parents ranked teaching the basics of money management, enforcing discipline and improving technology as three top concerns in classrooms today. The back-to-school time period is a perfect opportunity for parents to talk with their children about money, budgeting and spending."

Visa's national survey of Hispanic parents provides an important backdrop to Practical Money Skills for Life, a bilingual money management program designed by Visa in conjunction with Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy and the National Consumers League. Practical Money Skills for Life provides educators and parents free online resources that help teach the basics of money management, such as saving, making a budget and sticking to it. The program currently reaches more than 20,000 schools and includes lesson plans for preschool-to-12th grade, interactive games and quizzes, and online financial calculators. The materials are all designed to increase financial literacy, regardless of language preference and are available for free online in Spanish at www.vidaydinero.com, and in English at www.practicalmoneyskills.com.

In addition to developing Practical Money Skills for Life, Visa U.S.A. is also doing a number of things to address top concerns of Hispanic families:

• Because it understands the critical role of public libraries in education Visa U.S.A. has partnered with Libraries for the Future to make the materials available at libraries in low-income neighborhoods and support librarians in their work with youth and families.

• To help ensure leaders in Hispanic education are aware of the free resources available to teachers, parents and students, Visa U.S.A. is working with elected officials, Hispanic educators and community leaders in Chicago and San Antonio to organize financial literacy education seminars.

"Visa, along with consumer groups and financial experts, have been working to bring financial literacy resources to America's parents, teachers and children," said Kelly Presta, vice president, Visa U.S.A. "Visa's goal is to ensure everyone has access to financial literacy educational materials, which is particularly important given the e-commerce age we live in."

The Visa U.S.A. surveyed 1,000 Hispanic parents with children in grades from kindergarten to college in from July 31 to August 9, 2001. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percent.

About Visa U.S.A.
Visa is the world's leading payment brand and largest consumer payment system, enabling banks to provide their consumer and merchant customers with the best way to pay and be paid. More than 14,000 U.S. financial institutions rely on Visa's processing system, VisaNet, to facilitate over $810 billion in annual transaction volume - including more than half of all Internet payments - with virtually 100 percent reliability. U.S. consumers carry more than 353 million Visa-branded smart, credit, commercial, stored value and check cards, accepted at approximately 22 million locations worldwide. Visa has long led the industry in developing payment security standards, and has been named the most trusted payment brand online. Visa's people, partnerships, brand and payment technology are helping to create universal commerce - the ability to safely conduct transactions anytime, anywhere and by any device. Please visit www.visa.com for additional information.

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