LA groups are credit wise

On August 20th, Consumer Action and Chase co-hosted a Using Credit Wisely roundtable in Los Angeles, California. The training brought together 34 staff of community based organizations in the area to discuss how to recognize credit card fraud and use short-term credit. Of those in attendance, 82% strongly agreed and 18% agreed that the training was complete enough to feel confident about conducting trainings on credit card fraud and short-term credit on their own.

Consumer Action’s Outreach and Training Director Mikael Wagner convened the morning session on how to recognize credit card fraud. Participants learned the difference between credit card fraud and ID theft. Wagner discussed various forms of fraud such as dumpster diving, skimming and phishing. Afterwards, he led the group on an interactive exercise on how to spot a “phish.” Phishing is the activity of defrauding an online account holder of financial information by posing as a legitimate company. Wagner also provided resources on how participants and their clients could conduct their own financial check-ups.

Consumer Action’s Community Outreach Manager Nelson Santiago led the afternoon session with a discussion on short-term credit. Santiago took an innovative approach to teaching. He divided the participants into teams and had them to give mock presentations on the materials. In addition, he created a puzzle game whereby the participants had to take words from the curriculum and create sentences, all while being timed. This activity sparked great excitement from the participants.

The event also facilitated networking among the participants, with new partnerships formed among the CBOs represented. The groups discussed ways in which they could collaborate and use the materials presented at the meeting.