collector mentor Challenge: Test Your Financial IQ

The Lesson – Test Your Financial IQ

Each year the ACA Education Foundation works tirelessly to promote National Credit Education Week (NCEW) during the third week of April.

NCEW is “A public service campaign that seeks to remind consumers that by simply paying bills promptly and using credit wisely, they are developing good money management habits that will benefit their financial health and peace of mind. NCEW educates consumers about budgeting, using credit wisely and protecting their access to credit in order to ensure success in their personal financial goals.”

If you’ve done your math correctly, you realize that NCEW 2011 is happening this week (April 17-23).

To help companies plan an event, ACA has created a free planning kit that contains a wealth of useful information, including event ideas, financial literacy Q&A, sample press releases, and even a financial literacy quiz. It’s everything a company needs to get active and involved in NCEW.

The Challenge

It might be a little late in the game to plan an event for this week, so don’t sweat it. The challenge for this week isn’t to put together an event in just a couple of days (although that would be cool). This week’s challenge might actually be more difficult than that.

This week, your challenge is to test your financial IQ by taking ACA’s 13 question quiz on credit basics.

As collection professionals, we’re knee deep in other peoples’ finances. We often find ourselves offering budgeting advice, educating consumers about credit reports, and giving tips for using credit wisely. It would make sense, then, that we should know our way around personal finances. If we don’t, what does that mean for the consumers we’re guiding? It’s been said that, “If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”

You can see how wide open your eyes are by downloading the quiz here and then coming back for the answer key when you’re done.

Good luck!

The Reflection

1. What do you see as the biggest roadblock to financial literacy?
2. What was your (honest) score?

Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Gary Jensen
Editor | collector mentor

To download companion worksheets to use with The collector mentor Challenge™, please visit www.collectormentor.com/thechallenge.

About collector mentor
Published bimonthly, collector mentor is a quick-read publication dedicated entirely to delivering articles and practical advice that teaches credit and collection professionals how to increase collection results, enhance productivity, improve teamwork, and become better stewards of the industry.