Participating credit unions will only have to pay for the printing of any co-branded fliers and brochures that the program makes available and that they might want to use, Alderman said. Alderman said Visa had already contracted with a printer who can print the material for a charge or can contract with their own printer.

Alderman emphasized the multidimensional aspects of the program, pointing out the different parts of its approach appealed to different age groups and different cultures. The video game Financial Football, for example, has the complete feel and connection that other football video games offer, Alderman explained, but players advance their teams down the field by answering financial knowledge questions correctly. The What's My Score module aimed at college students uses messages that Visa got college students to submit as part of a competition with a prize and offers college students about the only free FICO score estimating software available.

A curriculum developed along the lines of financial football has been so successful that West Virginia has adopted it for use in its high schools and five other states are working with Visa to tailor it to their state's financial education needs as well, Alderman explained.

Ken Payne, president and CEO of the $18 million Freedom Credit Union, headquartered in Provo, Utah, recalled for the executives how he had heard about the site and co-branding opportunity, but had already decided that whatever was being offered would probably not be very good.

"We had already looked into the possibility of doing something similar," he said, "and had already figured out that to do it right cost a good deal of money so I was expecting something that would be maybe just pre-existing program elements sort of taped together," he said.

Instead Payne said he found the program extremely well put together and coordinated, as well as being one that Visa would integrate with Freedom's own Web site as well. The co-branded site has been up for a couple of weeks now, Payne said through CSCU.

Alderman also had the results of a study Visa conducted with the Wells Fargo bank on the program's impact on its college-aged cardholders. The study found that the college students who responded to the survey and took part in the program had late fees decline by 42.6%, over limit charges decline by the same, lower revolving balances than their peers, but also less than half of the incidence of making payments past due.

Even though the bank found that the program had actually cut into the fee income it received from its student cardholders, Alderman said Wells Fargo had begun offering it to try to strengthen its relationship with cardholders at the beginnings of their financial lives.

Alderman concluded by stressing that Visa provided a number of different ways that credit union could co-brand with the program.

That includes free co-branded Web sites where members will be able to find the full version of What's My Score and Practical Money Skills for Life with a credit union brand and custom URL. Credit unions can also embed free practical money skills tools such as calculators, games and other content directly on their own Web sites.

Credit unions can also co-brand pamphlets, presentations, guides and student workbooks with their branding. They can also use free articles and content for their communications, which include financial wisdom advice and more information on timely topics such as budgeting for the holidays or budgeting for vacations, Alderman explained.

"There is so little financial education going on across the country right now," Alderman said, "that Visa is convinced that partnering with financial institutions is the way we can begin to make a dent in the problem."

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