MCLEAN, Va., Oct. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Consumer advocacy group Consumer Action and leading financial services company Capital One (NYSE: COF) today announced that their joint MoneyWi$e financial literacy partnership will provide free financial training to non-profit community groups from several Southeast states.

The two-day seminar kicks off in Charlotte, NC on October 20, 2004 with Consumer Action financial educators leading training sessions designed to teach local community groups how to educate their clients about money and financial management. The sessions will focus on six areas of financial management including: basic banking; budgeting; understanding credit; credit repair; understanding bankruptcy; and talking to teens about money. In addition, there will be a pre-conference forum on micro-business basics held on Tuesday, October 19 to provide tips and resources for those who counsel clients who may be thinking about starting a business of their own.

Featured speakers for the event include Dr. Julia Marlowe, Ph.D. from the University of Georgia; Cindy Liebes of the Federal Trade Commission; and Charlotte-based consumer attorney Beth Bebber, Esq. Dr. Marlowe will discuss financial services and low-income and immigrant populations. Additionally, Cindy Liebes will tackle the issue of identity theft and Beth Bebber will be speaking on consumer rights as an alternative to bankruptcy. Closing the forum on October 21, a panel of representatives from community based non- profits across the United States will share information and best practices in achieving financial literacy using the MoneyWi$e materials in diverse communities.

"MoneyWi$e was created to provide consumers at all income levels with both the information and practical assistance they need to help better understand and manage their finances," said Diana Don Colby, Director of Financial Education at Capital One. "We are proud to continue to co-sponsor the MoneyWi$e program. We believe that this training seminar, combined with our new materials on saving to build wealth and micro-business basics, can help to jump start the efforts of local community organizations dedicated to engaging and educating consumers."

"We applaud the efforts of non-profit organizations in the Southeast to provide much-needed support and relevant information to their communities," said Ken McEldowney, Executive Director of Consumer Action. "This MoneyWi$e program is just one way we are able to assist these groups to continue to do what they do best: helping neighbors in their communities to help themselves."

The seminar will be held at the Omni Charlotte Hotel in Charlotte, NC.

MoneyWi$e: Materials, Training and Seminars

Consumer Action and Capital One first launched the MoneyWi$e partnership in November 2001. Since then, the program has produced and distributed a six- part series of MoneyWi$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, understanding the basics of credit and credit repair and how parents can talk to teenagers about money. By providing free brochures in multiple languages (English, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese), the MoneyWi$e program is able to address financial literacy across both income and ethnic barriers. More than one million brochures have been distributed to date.

In addition to distributing free materials online (http://www.money-wise.org) and through a network of 7,300 CBOs nationwide, the MoneyWi$e program also provides a number of "train-the-trainer" seminars throughout the country during which Consumer Action staff members will meet with groups of CBOs to demonstrate how the MoneyWi$e materials and curriculum can be used most effectively.

About Capital One

Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Capital One Financial Corporation (http://www.capitalone.com) is a holding company whose principal subsidiaries, Capital One Bank and Capital One, F.S.B., offer consumer lending products and Capital One Auto Finance, Inc., offers automobile and other motor vehicle financing products. Capital One's subsidiaries collectively had 46.6 million accounts and $73.4 billion in managed loans outstanding as of June 30, 2004. 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 national non-profit education and advocacy 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

CONTACT: Rachael Lille, +1-202-778-1096, rlille@apcoworldwide.com, for
Capital One Financial Corporation
Web site: http://www.capitalone.com
http://www.money-wise.org
(COF)