NEW YORK, NY & ARLINGTON, VA – Zelle® is partnering with the BBB Institute for Marketplace Trust (BBB Institute), the Better Business Bureau’s® educational foundation and the Association of Military Banks of America (AMBA) to help educate and empower our nation’s active-duty military, veterans, and their families on financial security.
Research shows that military service members are 40% more likely to lose money to scams and fraud than the civilian population, making scam awareness and education especially important for the military community. Through a year-long “train-the-trainer” program, the BBB Institute will prepare trainers to deliver monthly in-person and virtual training to military and veteran communities across the United States.
The first several months of the program will be dedicated to equipping BBB trainers along with financial counselors from the National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) and Accredited Financial Counselor® (AFC®) professionals from the Association for Financial Counseling & Planning Education® (AFCPE) with extensive fraud and scam education and building out a robust monthly curriculum. Local trainers will then host in-person sessions across the country to address the needs of our veterans, service members and their families.
“As a veteran, I know how important it is to have peace of mind that you and your family are financially safe and secure while on deployment,” said Ben Chance, chief fraud risk management officer at Early Warning Services, LLC, the owner and operator of the Zelle Network®. “I am confident this program will help educate active duty servicemembers, veterans and their families and protect hard-working Americans who put duty first and themselves second.”
“We believe providing in-person and real-time consumer education creates a more lasting impact,” said Melissa Lanning, executive director, BBB Institute for Marketplace Trust. “The opportunity for thousands of service members to learn from experts in person is unparalleled.”
“Our nation’s veterans and military personnel can face very unique challenges when it comes to their banking experiences,” said Steven J. Lepper, president and CEO of the Association of Military Banks of America. “Programs like these can help alleviate the stress our military and veteran customers feel when making financial decisions.”
In addition to standing up this joint train-the-trainer program, Zelle recently released an informational video specific to identifying and preventing military scams as part of its broader consumer education efforts.
Zelle consumer education efforts started more than five years ago with a partnership promoting financial literacy among high school students. Over the years, efforts evolved to include additional partnerships to reach broader audiences and expand resources on the Zelle website within the Safety Education Center. Last year alone, Early Warning reached nearly 40 million consumers of all ages with financial education campaigns through partnerships including BBB, the National Council on Aging, Vox Media and HerCampus Media. Recent award-winning “edutainment” style campaigns include the recently launched S.A.F.E. Squad, a mock detective show produced in partnership with Vox Media.
About Zelle®
Zelle® is transforming how money moves, with more than five billion digital payments sent since its launch in 2017. The Zelle Network® connects more than 2,100 bank and credit union brands of all sizes, enabling consumers and businesses to send digital payments to people and businesses they know and trust with an eligible bank account in the U.S. Money is available directly in bank accounts generally within minutes when the recipient is already enrolled with Zelle®. To learn more about Zelle® and participating financial institutions in the Zelle Network®, visit www.zellepay.com. Zelle® is brought to you by Early Warning Services, LLC, an innovator in payment and risk management solutions.
About BBB
The Better Business Bureau has empowered people to find businesses, brands, and charities they can trust for over 110 years. In 2023, people turned to BBB more than 218 million times for BBB Business Profiles on 5.3 million businesses, and 80,000 times for BBB charity reports on about 12,000 charities, for free at BBB.org. The International Association of Better Business Bureaus is the umbrella organization for the local, independent BBBs in the United States and Canada.
About the BBB INSTITUTE
The BBB Institute for Marketplace Trust (BBB Institute) is the educational foundation of the International Association of Better Business Bureaus. Our mission is to educate and protect consumers, promote best practices for businesses, and solve complex marketplace problems. Our consumer educational programs, which include a wide array of resources on fraud prevention and education, are delivered digitally and in person by BBBs serving communities across the United States and Canada. You can find more information about BBB Institute and its programs at BBBMarketplaceTrust.org.
About the Association of Military Banks of America
The Association of Military Banks of America (AMBA) was founded in 1959. AMBA is a not-for-profit association of banks operating on military installations, banks not located on military installations but serving military customers, and military banking facilities designated by the U.S. Treasury. The association’s membership includes both community banks and large multinational financial institutions, all of which are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
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