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Fostering Consumer Education and Financial Literacy While Promoting Competition in the Marketplace

ACEC educates consumers to take full advantage of the financial tools available to plan for a stable economic future. By taking simple steps like using the budgeting techniques found on this website and protecting yourself from identity theft you can empower yourself and your financial future.

No Penalty On Using Plastic This Holiday Season

ACEC has been telling you about the move on Capitol Hill by mega retailers and their lobbyists to shift their costs of doing business on the backs of consumers, potentially resulting in checkout fees when you pay for purchases with credit cards.

Here’s the Good News: We do not expect Congress will consider any legislation during the remainder of the year that would penalize credit card users with checkout fees at the end of a sale.

But Beware! Big retailers won’t stop their efforts to pass the cost of electronic transactions onto you, the consumer. ACEC will closely monitor what Congress does in the New Year. So when we call on consumers to write their Members of Congress to urge them to vote NO on checkout fees, we hope you will take action and protect consumer rights!

Weathering Wall Street’s Woes…

Everybody is talking about it…the state of our economy. The current financial crisis that has gripped the country has created widespread confusion about what these problems on Wall Street might mean for ordinary Americans on Main Street. From billion dollar bailouts to the shrinking buck in your wallet, Americans are feeling the impact of an economy in distress. Projections of tighter credit are expected to make it harder for companies and individuals to access the cash needed to make investments and everyday purchases. Americans are bombarded with headlines of an economy under duress, but, ACEC says, “Don’t Panic!”

Be a Financially Literate Consumer

Now more than ever it is critical for Americans of all ages to be money skills savvy. We are the wealthiest nation but our personal debt climbs while our savings sink. How do we keep our economy robust? We need to stay smart about purchasing, planning, investing and saving. America's youth needs to be prepared as well. Here are some sites providing financial literacy resources. ACEC encourages you to visit them and to pass this information onto the young folks you know. Whether it's your piggy bank or pocketbook, your allowance or promotion bonus, we all want to protect what we earn and see it grow.

mymoney.gov is a site for the Financial Literacy and Education Commission--which is comprised of federal agencies that provide financial literacy resources.

JumpStart Coalition
jumpstartcoalition.org--encourages curriculum enrichment to ensure that basic personal financial management skills are attained during the K-12 educational experience.

OperationHope
bankingonourfuture.org--a site that promotes financial education to youth in urban and underserved communities

The Savings Coalition of America
savingscoalition.org--a nonprofit business league that supports incentives to increase personal savings in the United States.

AICPA Financial Literacy Sources
aicpa.org--this is the CPA site for financial literacy

Are you vulnerable to credit card check out fees?

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Read More About Credit Card Check Out Fees/Surcharges