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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.

America Saves Week: February 21 – 28, 2010

The personal savings rate is near zero, most Americans are not saving adequately for retirement and most lower-income households do not have adequate emergency savings for unexpected expenditures like a car repair. But with more societal encouragement and support, more Americans will be persuaded to build wealth, not debt.

ACEC encourages our members to participate in America Saves Week. The fourth annual America Saves Week is scheduled for February 21 – 28 and early reports indicate that the Week will have more participation and a broader reach than ever before.

During America Saves Week, individuals will be encouraged and assisted to assess their savings progress and take action to advance this progress. This encouragement and assistance will be provided by organizations and professionals with an interest in improving the financial security of individuals and families.

Click here for more information.

Sign Online Petition Today!

Sign the online petition at www.dontmakeuspay.org today! “Don’t Make Us Pay” is an effort by small business owners, community bank customers, credit union members, and others who use debit and credit cards, to urge Congress to oppose harmful legislation that would shift a merchant's cost of doing business – what they pay when they accept cards – to us, their customers. The goal of this petition is simply to prove to Congress that we don’t want to pay the bills of retailers, and we strongly oppose any legislation that shifts those costs onto us.

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