Kicking off Military Saves Week at California’s Camp Pendleton

Military Saves Week was February 27-March 4, and Consumer Action’s community outreach and training manager, Linda Williams, helped kick off the campaign by participating in events at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in Southern California.

Military Saves, a component of the non-profit America Saves and a partner in the Department of Defense’s Financial Readiness Campaign, seeks to motivate, support and encourage servicemembers to save. The campaign also provides an opportunity for organizations like Consumer Action to promote good savings behavior to hundreds of servicemembers at bases like Camp Pendleton by offering them relevant, reader-friendly and timely financial empowerment information.

Williams participated in this year’s program by distributing financial empowerment materials and giving brief presentations on how to avoid falling victim to ID theft; the impact of specialty consumer reports on one’s credit score; and how to complain effectively to regulatory agencies, consumer groups, lawyers and others when one has a problem with the purchase of goods or services.

Visitors to Consumer Action’s exhibit table were provided with publications and advice on establishing and improving credit, keeping their homes, the importance of auto insurance, economic issues specific to servicemembers and veterans, online privacy issues and debtors rights.

While all of Consumer Action’s materials were a big hit, the most popular was our How to Complain booklet, provided to more than 150 Navy servicemembers that day.

In addition to participating in the annual Military Saves event at Camp Pendleton for five years, Williams, for the last two years, has assisted in an ongoing Financial Readiness Campaign by offering monthly trainings and materials on ID theft and debt collection to servicemembers who are peer financial counselors in Camp Pendleton’s Command Financial Specialist (CFS) Program. This key initiative helps boost the financial readiness of servicemembers and their families, including the reduction of debt and saving toward personal and family goals.