People's United Bank Helps Students Understand Their Credit Scores

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Champlain College President David F. Finney introduces the new Center for Financial Literacy at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont.

BURLINGTON, VT (12/08/2010)(readMedia)-- People's United Bank is joining with Champlain College in Burlington, Vt., to improve the financial literacy levels of Champlain College juniors and seniors by giving them direct access to their tri-merge credit report and scores and offering one-on-one credit counseling sessions.

"We are pleased to be able to support the Center for Financial Literacy and Champlain College in their efforts to give students the skills to make responsible financial decisions that will affect their lives well beyond graduation," said Michael Seaver, President, People's United Bank Vermont. "We have been a long time partner with Champlain College in numerous projects and we believe this will have a direct impact in the community and the economic future of these students. It is now more important than ever that we provide support to organizations like Champlain College."

People's United Bank, a diversified financial services company with approximately $22 billion in assets, provides consumer and commercial banking services through a network of approximately 300 branches in Vermont, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine and New York. Through its subsidiaries, People's United Bank provides equipment financing, asset management, brokerage and financial advisory services, and insurance services.

John Pelletier of Stowe, Director of the new Center for Financial Literacy at Champlain College, said the partnership with People's United Bank for the "What's My Score?" Credit Review Program for Students is a key element in the College's ongoing life skills education initiatives and a perfect fit with the new center designed to promote broader financial literacy skills to students, teachers and adults on a local, state and national level.

"The teaching of personal finance is often an afterthought in schools because it is not a subject tested under the No Child Left Behind law. However, according to Jump$tart USA -- a Washington D.C.-based coalition of organizations interested in advancing financial literacy among students in pre-kindergarten through college -- high school seniors, on average, answered only 48 percent of personal finance questions correctly. We hope the work of the Center for Financial Literacy at Champlain College and the "What's My Score?" credit counseling program sponsored by People's United Bank will help change all that," Pelletier explained.

The "What's My Score?" Credit Review Program for Students, sponsored by People's United Bank, will be a part of the Champlain College Life Experience & Action Dimension (LEAD) curriculum, a program unique to Champlain College started in 2006. The LEAD curriculum has three themes – building community, managing lifelong career skills and gaining financial sophistication. Students are required to complete a series of workshops and programs before graduation.

"What's My Score?" will offer Champlain College students free access to their tri-merge credit report and scores, along with workshops and counseling sessions to help them understand credit scores and the behaviors that will improve credit scores or that can negatively impact those scores in the future. People's is providing approximately $11,000 for the three years to cover the cost of access to the reports, Champlain Housing Trust's training program for student peer credit counselors and to publicize the program on campus.

Pelletier, a former chief operating officer and chief legal officer at some of the largest asset management firms in the U. S., says a lack of knowledge about credit, investing and financial planning is really at the heart of the recent economic downturn.

"The Great Recession demonstrated that our citizens struggle when making complex financial decisions that are critical to their well being. Some of our economic problems were created by bad actors, focused on personal gain, but so many others were created by good people making poorly informed personal financial decisions," he noted.

"Programs like this should have a major impact down the road on choices our students make as they build their credit histories, begin their careers, take out loans, buy homes and become a vital part of our economic communities," Pelletier added.

For more information about the Center for Financial Literacy at Champlain College and the "What's My Score" program, visit

http://www.champlain.edu/CFL.html

About People's United

People's United Bank, a diversified financial services company with approximately $22 billion in assets, provides consumer and commercial banking services through a network of nearly 300 branches in Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Maine and New York. Through its subsidiaries, People's United Bank provides equipment financing, asset management, brokerage and financial advisory services, and insurance services.

About Champlain College

Since 1878, Champlain College has provided career-focused education to students from its hilltop campus in Burlington, Vt. Champlain's distinctive educational approach embodies the notion that true learning only occurs when information and experience come together to create knowledge. Champlain offers study abroad programs in Montreal, Quebec and Dublin, Ireland. The College was named a "Top-Up-and-Coming School" by U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Colleges. It is also ranked in the top tier of 2011 Regional Colleges in the North by U.S. News & World Report. To learn more about Champlain College, www.champlain.edu