Feb. 19, 1999
Contact:
Teressa Tignor Gilbreth
Information Specialist
(573) 882-9144
[email protected]
MU PARTNERS WITH AGENCY TO OFFER EMERGENCY FINANCIAL HELP TO CALLERS NATIONWIDE
COLUMBIA, Mo. -- "My client's brother was about to commit suicide because of his financial troubles. That's what made me realize that my clients are real people dealing with serious issues and confirmed for me that I'm on the right career path," said Trisha Yancy, a consumer and family economics student at the University of Missouri-Columbia working as a phone counselor for the Consumer Credit Counseling Service Calling Center in Columbia, Mo.
Yancy and other counselors answer questions 24 hours a day, seven days a week from callers across the nation about anything from budgeting to creditors. The call center, called the National Network, was launched in summer 1998 as a partnership between CCCS and MU. It is funded by Consumer Credit Counseling Service of Mid-America. One-third of the center's 26 employees in the Columbia unit are students in MU's Department of Consumer and Family Economics.
"This is a marvelous professional experience for our students," said Ed Metzen, chair of the department. "They gain actual case situation exposure to the field of family financial matters, interactive counseling experience working with families and expanded awareness of the range of mismanagement of family finances that exists. They also gain a sense of being one of a unit in a career-oriented, professional working environment where they are paid handsomely and can earn academic credit. When CCCS hires our students, they get employees already educated about the subject matter."
"We planned the call center with the students in mind. They are so flexible and positive, have a strong desire to help people, and a willingness to share their knowledge," said Eva Hensley, senior vice president of counseling for CCCS.
The students who work part time at the center have the option of earning academic credit for the internship. They undergo intense training to become counselors, building on what they've learned from college classes and life experiences, and they receive a lot of on-the-job support.
The center receives an average of 170 calls per day, but all callers aren't distressed. The goal of the center is to provide information and education to help people become financially self-sufficient and able to avoid crises.
"The idea is to make financial help available when people are handling their affairs, so they can get an instant answer when they are balancing their checkbooks at 2 a.m. This is one more way we are trying to reach out into the community," said Linda Endecott, senior vice president of community development and education.
After her graduation in May, Yancy plans to pursue an MBA and eventually work in a non-profit organization such as CCCS to help families work out budgets and learn to live without welfare assistance.
As an added benefit to the work experience the students gain, one student said she has gained a realistic perspective of her own finances. "I don't have a credit card," said Erin Jack, a senior who expects to graduate in May with a bachelor's degree in consumer and family economics. "The stories I have heard from callers have helped me to avoid credit problems before they start. It's shocking to hear how distressed some people are about their financial situation." Jack was a phone counselor and team leader at the center.
Future goals for the center include offering bilingual financial assistance, as well as continuing to grow as the call volume increases. Increasingly, consumer credit counseling services across the nation are contracting with Columbia's call center to forward their evening and weekend calls. The phone center is currently taking calls for agencies in Washington, Idaho, Texas, New Mexico, Tennessee, Florida, Minnesota and Rhode Island, but they have taken calls from all 50 states plus Brazil, Canada, Mexico and England.
Anyone with questions about their personal finances -- from student loans to retirement accounts -- may call the center at 573-443-0303, ext. 1, or toll-free at 800-736-0535. They also answer inquiries by email at [email protected], and they host a consumer credit chat room on America Online (AOL) at TheWhiz.com on Wednesday evenings from 10-11 p.m., central standard time.
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