MCLEAN, Va., Mar 13, 2003 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ --

Non-Profit Organizations Receive Nearly $75,000 to Teach and Provide Free Financial Education Resources to 65,000 Consumers

Consumer advocacy group Consumer Action and leading credit card provider Capital One today announced that their joint Money Wi$e financial literacy partnership will grant $74,950 in stipends to 19 community-based nonprofit organizations (CBOs) in four states. The stipend program demonstrates the commitment of Money Wi$e to support local communities and their financial education curriculum.

"We created Money Wi$e to provide consumers at all income levels with the building blocks they need to help better manage their finances," said Diana Don, Director of Financial Education at Capital One. "The Money Wi$e stipend program helps to support the efforts of local organizations who are dedicated to engaging and educating at-risk consumers."

Nineteen organizations in California, Florida, New York and Washington will receive stipends of up to $5,000 to help fund training workshops, financial counseling and distribution of educational material for low income and homeless families, immigrants and students in their local communities. The stipends will help to fund more than 280 educational sessions offered through the organizations, benefiting more than 65,000 consumers.

"We applaud the efforts of local organizations to provide much-needed support and relevant information to their constituents," said Ken McEldowney, Executive Director of Consumer Action. "Through the Money Wi$e stipend program, we are able to assist these groups to continue to do what they do best: helping neighbors in their communities to help themselves."

Money Wi$e: Materials, Training and Seminars

Consumer Action and Capital One launched the Money Wi$e partnership in November 2001. Since then, the program has produced and distributed a four-part series of Money Wi$e educational materials to provide consumers with the building blocks for developing and honing personal finance skills, from saving and budgeting to balancing a checkbook and understanding the basics of credit and credit repair. By providing free brochures in multiple languages (English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese), the Money Wi$e program is able to address financial literacy across both income and ethnic barriers.

In addition to distributing free materials online (www.consumer-action.org) and through a network of 6,500 CBOs nationwide, the Money Wi$e program also will provide a limited number of "train-the-trainer" sessions during which Consumer Action staff members will meet with groups of CBOs to demonstrate how the Money Wi$e materials and curriculum can be used most effectively.

About Capital One

Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Capital One Financial Corporation (NYSE: COF) is a holding company whose principal subsidiaries, Capital One Bank and Capital One, F.S.B., offer consumer lending products. Capital One's subsidiaries collectively had 47.4 million customers and $59.7 billion in managed loans outstanding as of December 31, 2002. Capital One, a Fortune 500 company, is one of the largest providers of MasterCard and Visa credit cards in the world. Capital One trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "COF" and is included in the S&P 500 index.

About Consumer Action

Consumer Action is a non-profit, membership-based organization founded in San Francisco in 1971. Consumer Action serves consumers nationwide by advancing consumer rights, referring consumers to complaint-handling agencies and publishing multilingual educational materials. Consumer Action also advocates for consumers in the media and before lawmakers and annually conducts comparison surveys for consumers on credit cards, banking issues and telecommunications issues.

SOURCE Capital One Financial Corporation; Consumer Action

CONTACT: Diana Don of Capital One, +1-703-720-2371, diana.don@capitalone.com; or Ken McEldowney or Linda Sherry of Consumer Action, +1-415-777-9648, linda.sherry@consumer-action.org