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Feature article

CARE attorneys stress importance of (good) credit

Article and picture by Tammy Lane
January 28, 2008

Many of today’s teenagers are hungry consumers with little financial savvy. And bankruptcy lawyers stand at the ready – but in a good way.

CARE presenter Maria Fitzpatrick, left, and teacher Kara Barnett hand out credit-abuse and money-management materials to students at Paul Laurence Dunbar High School. “The (main) idea is that credit has to be used responsibly,” Fitzpatrick said. “Carrying a balance on a credit card is a bad idea.”

  Members of the Fayette County Bar Association have volunteered to teach high school students the basics of consumer credit and money management, such as how to balance a checkbook.
  Following the CARE (Credit Abuse Resistance Education) guidelines, guest speakers visited Paul Laurence Dunbar High School on Jan. 23 and 24. One key point hit home with several students in Kara Barnett’s probability and statistics class.
  “Pay off your debt at the end of the month,” summarized sophomore CasSandra Barnes.
  CARE is a national initiative launched in Rochester, N.Y., by a concerned bankruptcy judge. It enlists attorneys, judges and trustees to talk with students about using credit wisely, distinguishing between “wants” and “needs,” and accumulating savings.
  The Bar Association approached the Fayette County Public Schools with an offer to use the program here locally. The initiative is in sync with recommendations from the district’s 2020 Vision plan calling for financial literacy instruction in area schools.
  “We want to provide a fundamental review of personal financial literacy,” said Laura Day DelCotto, coordinator of Fayette County’s CARE program. “We believe it’s important when they venture out into the world to have that (basic understanding).”
  Barnes and her Dunbar classmates junior Laura Buckman and senior Equaun Mack agreed the CARE message was useful for teens and suggested a semester-long, required class in school would benefit older students.
  “I didn’t realize how easy it was to get into debt with credit cards,” Buckman said.
  Mack said he would remember the tips on “what to do and what not to do” to stay out of debt, while Barnes said she’d like to hear more about Internet fraud. “That’s going to be my biggest fear,” she said, referring to computer hackers’ stealing her identity.
  Stacy Clark and Barnett, co-chairs of Dunbar’s math department, said making the subject material relevant for teens is crucial. On Thursday, CARE attorney Maria Fitzpatrick tried that approach with such opening questions as:
• Who has an after-school job?
• How do you use your money?
• Who has his or her own checking account?
  “The idea is that credit has to be used responsibly,” said Fitzpatrick, a law clerk for a Lexington bankruptcy judge. “Carrying a balance on a credit card is a bad idea.”
  With personal examples, handouts and videos, she explored such topics as understanding credit-card offers and creating a budget for college.
  Other attorneys will make similar presentations at Tates Creek High School in February, again at Paul Laurence Dunbar High in March and at Henry Clay High in May. Students at Bryan Station High and Lafayette High heard from CARE in December, and two more sessions are set at Bryan Station.
  “There was such a connection within my health class,” said Paula S. Lewis, a health and P.E. teacher at Lafayette High School, who said the two visiting lawyers talked about how money management affects every aspect of life, from mental to physical to emotional health.
  She said she hopes her students got the message that they should be wise with their money and not get into tough situations they can’t get out of.
  “That was a life lesson and a life skill,” Lewis said.
  In between the high school sessions, the CARE speakers are tweaking their material – making the sessions less preachy, more hands-on and more flexible with time for questions.
  “We’re trying to make the presentations as practical as possible,” DelCotto said. “We ask who’s going to college, who’s trying to get a job.”
  Among the most popular topics are cell phone contracts, car loans and credit card fees.
  “The goal is mostly to raise awareness so when these kids go to college, they will have at least heard of the things they need to know about credit cards. Maybe they’ll pause and think about it,” said volunteer Megan McLain. “We want them to protect themselves. … They need to know exactly what they’re signing up for.”
  The presenters create their own handouts and also draw from the online CARE resources (www.careprogram.us). Among the main ones are “The Real Cost of Credit” and top 10 financial tips for high school and college students, including:
• Pay your bills on time.
• Open a savings account.
• Use cash or debit instead of a credit card.
  Valorie Smith, who helps coordinate the CARE presentations, stressed that students should be pro-active and prepared. “We try to drill home that credit can work for you, or it can work against you,” Smith said.
  Todd Horstmeyer, executive director of the Kentucky Bar Foundation, praised the CARE program and the Fayette County Bar’s outreach to Lexington-area schools.
  “By having some outside help from professionals it’s a neat partnership,” he said. “I can’t think of a more practical topic.”
  If the students and the schools find CARE beneficial, there’s no reason the presentations can’t be done more frequently, perhaps annually, Horstmeyer said, adding, “It’s exciting to see how this has caught on.”
  “If just one kid hears you and does something differently, you’ve made a difference,” said DelCotto, who said the Fayette County Bar has about 20 volunteer speakers, mostly younger attorneys in the bankruptcy area.
  She also encouraged parents to teach money management at home.
  “The more you can reinforce this in day-to-day living, as things are happening, and the more you can show your children” about the consequences of missing a payment, for example, “the better off they’ll be.”

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