MCLEAN, Va., Jun 06, 2005 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- 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 a two-day financial train-the-trainer seminar to more than 40 non-profit community groups from six Western states.

The free seminar takes place in Phoenix, Arizona, on June 8-9, 2005 with financial educators from Consumer Action who will lead training sessions designed to teach representatives from non-profit groups how to educate their community members 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.

Featured speakers for the event include Tom Syta, assistant regional director for The Federal Trade Commission's Western region, and Phoenix lawyer and consumer activist Hyung Choi. Syta will speak about the growing problem of identity theft and Choi will address consumer credit laws. In addition to topics covering identity theft and consumer credit, there will be a session that provides tips and techniques commonly used in successful adult-based education efforts. The event will conclude with a panel of representatives from a number of community-based non-profits across the United States who will share information and best practices to achieve financial literacy using the MoneyWi$e financial literacy materials.

"The MoneyWi$e program is designed to provide consumers at all income levels with the information and practical assistance they need to better understand and manage their finances," said Diana Don Colby, director of financial education at Capital One.

"For the past four years we have been proud to work with Capital One to provide leaders of local non-profit organizations with the information and teaching tools they need to help them bring financial literacy programs to their local communities," said Ken McEldowney, executive director of Consumer Action. "We applaud the work these groups do to help educate and empower their neighbors."

The seminar will be held at the Hilton Phoenix East/Mesa, 1011 Holmes Avenue, located in Mesa. For members of the media interested in attending, please contact Rachael Lille at (202) 778-1096 to register.

MoneyWi$e: Materials, Training and Seminars

Consumer Action and Capital One first launched the MoneyWi$e partnership in April 2001. Since then, the program has produced and distributed a six-part series of MoneyWi$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 (www.money-wise.org) and through a network of 7,500 CBOs nationwide, the MoneyWi$e program holds "train-the-trainer" seminars throughout the country during which Consumer Action educates community group staff on how MoneyWi$e materials and curriculum can be used most effectively.

About Capital One

Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Capital One Financial Corporation (www.capitalone.com) is a bank holding company whose principal subsidiaries, Capital One Bank, Capital One, F.S.B. and Capital One Auto Finance, Inc. offer a variety of consumer lending products. Capital One's subsidiaries collectively had 49.1 million accounts and $81.6 billion in managed loans outstanding as of March 31, 2005. Capital One is a Fortune 500 company and, through its subsidiaries, 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

Capital One Financial Corporation, McLean
Rachael Lille, 202-778-1096
rlille@apcoworldwide.com