FINANCIAL COUNSELING BEST PRACTICES GUIDE

Now more than ever, many consumers are seeking trustworthy financial guidance in a variety of areas. What better place to steer them than to your credit union?

To help Minnesota credit unions establish or improve existing financial counseling programs, the Minnesota Credit Union Foundation has made available a new Financial Counseling Best Practices guide, published in 2011.

Financial counseling involves fundamental money management assistance to help consumers solve or avoid financial problems and improve their financial status. Financial counseling can include many types of counseling including budget counseling, credit counseling, debt counseling, and financial planning.

Created by the Michigan Financial Education Council, the guide shares best practices and financial counseling program details from Michigan credit unions. The guide was compiled by a working group of credit union financial counselors with the goal of assisting credit unions in forming or improving a formal or informal financial counseling program.

The best practices guide includes program details and the operational experiences of several Michigan credit unions. Credit unions just starting out in financial counseling may find information in the document to consider in creating a program. Those credit unions that have already established a program may find insight to best practices that can supplement or enhance an existing program.