Credit Action - Better thinking about money
About us Training Resources Publications Publications Ongoing Projects Press Section Advocacy

National money education charity reaches out to Polish citizens

 

National money education charity Credit Action today (November 20th) released a Polish translation of its hugely successful Thinking about Money advice guide, in order to help Polish speakers in the UK to manage their finances better.

The project, funded jointly by International Personal Finance Plc (IPF) and the Leeds Community Foundation, was launched at the Polish Catholic Centre in Leeds. Credit Action would also like to thank IPF subsidiary, Provident Polska, for providing translation services.

Thinking about Money provides readers with the knowledge to organise their money, use credit wisely and plan for their financial future, by outlining the common causes of problematic debt and ways to address them. It includes such important things as helpful hints, a step-by-step guide to confronting debt problems, budget templates, a section defining and explaining key financial terms that can easily confuse people, and information on the legal rights of consumers. It also serves as a directory of essential services and advice agencies.

There are approximately 700,000 Poles living in the UK, for most of whom English is their second language. Some do not speak English at all. Consequently, with this significant proportion of the UK citizenry confronted with unfamiliar financial systems - which can be confusing to many British-born people as it is - helping Poles to understand these systems better was a primary objective of Credit Action. The project will facilitate people in the UK's Polish community to take full charge of their personal finances, especially in difficult economic times.


Thinking about Money is available for free, both as a download from Credit Action's website for personal use, and directly from the charity. Organisations with more sizeable requests who work with the Polish community are invited to contact Credit Action to arrange supply.

Credit Action director Chris Tapp said: ""It's vital that all people have access to clear and independent information about money regardless of any linguistic barriers. Given that there are still substantial numbers of Polish citizens resident here in the UK we are confident that this resource has a valuable part to play in helping many acquire the knowledge and skills they need to make the most of their money and avoid the kind of financial pitfalls which can cause so much damage."

Nicola Simpson, corporate responsibility manager for IPF said: "As a financial services company ourselves, we can see the community and business benefits of raising financial awareness including using credit wisely. We want to empower consumers to make informed decisions. We choose to support this project due to having the connection of a large business in Poland and this work aligns with our wider financial literacy programmes. We look forward to working with Credit Action again on projects in the future. "


Notes to editors:

1. Credit Action is a national money education charity (registered Charity in England & Wales No.1106941) established in 1994. Credit Action is committed to helping people manage their money better, their passion being to help people stay in control, rather than let money control them and disrupt their lives through over indebtedness or poverty.

Credit Action offers a range of resources, tools and training to help everybody handle their money well, and help others to do likewise. Credit Action operates at a national level through advocacy, collaboration and partnerships with various groups and companies, as well as at a local level through a variety of targeted projects, with a particular emphasis on those most vulnerable to financial difficulties.

Credit Action recognises that many people contacting them will be in trouble already, and so works in partnership with the UK's leading debt charity, Consumer Credit Counselling Service (Registered Charity No.1016630), which provides independent expert advice and help completely free of charge. CCCS are contactable online via its 24hr Debt Remedy service, or via its freephone helpline on 0800 138 1111, available 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday.

Credit Action's Polish translation project is one example of its targeted help. Photos from the launch of the Polish project, held at the Polish Catholic Centre in Leeds, are attached / available on request.

2. International Personal Finance aims to provide simple, fair and transparent financial products and services, and to be recognised around the world as the human face of finance, particularly to people of modest means. IPF Plc was established in 1997 as a division of Provident Financial. It is a FTSE 250 business with interests and staff throughout Europe, including Poland, Mexico and Russia.

IPF's Polish branch was founded established in 1997. In a country with a population of 38 million, IPF's 11,439 agents serve 877,000 customers.

3. The Leeds Community Foundation is a charitable trust that works alongside people that want to help transform local communities by providing financial support for community and voluntary groups tackling some of the city's biggest issues.




Media enquiries:

All media enquiries should be directed to:

Frances Walker fwalker@hurlstons.com
Chris Tapp c.tapp@creditaction.org.uk
Tel: 0207 636 5214
Fax: 0207 580 0016
Victoria Richmond (IPF) victoria.richmond@ipfin.co.uk
Tel. 07979 414414


November 20 2008

 

 

Write a comment

  • Required fields are marked with *.

If you have trouble reading the code, click on the code itself to generate a new random code.