The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), in partnership with Better Business Bureau (BBB), launched a free mobile app designed to help America’s military families make better personal decisions to ensure their financial independence. The Military & Money App is the first financial educational app that provides service members and their spouses easy-to-use and practical money management tips, including tools to reduce debt and maximize savings.
Military service members are often the targets of consumer fraud and high-interest predatory loans, and are heavily indebted, especially to credit card issuers. According to a 2010 survey by the FINRA Investor Education Foundation, 27 percent of military respondents had $10,000 or more in credit card debt compared with 16 percent of civilians. The survey also found “as many as one in three of enlisted personnel and junior NCOs reported using at least one method of non-bank borrowing [such as a predatory loan] in the past five years, compared with 24 percent of civilians.”
Key features of the app include training videos on budgeting and managing debt, calculators to track cash flow and build savings and debt reduction plans, and a prompt that sends monthly savings reminders.
The Military & Money App is available free on iTunes. A companion website can be found at www.militaryandmoney.com
About BBB: For 100 years, Better Business Bureau has been helping consumers find businesses, brands and charities they can trust. In 2011, consumers turned to BBB more than 100 million times for Business Reviews on more than 4 million companies and Charity Reports on 11,000 charities, all available for free at www.bbb.org.
About The McGraw-Hill Companies: McGraw-Hill announced on September 12, 2011, its intention to separate into two companies: McGraw-Hill Financial, a leading provider of content and analytics to global financial markets, and McGraw-Hill Education, a leading education company focused on digital learning and education services worldwide.
