Financial Literacy and Bankers

Everywhere you look these days there is more evidence of the crisis. But I am not talking about the Wall Street crisis, I am talking about the crisis in our country's financial literacy. Consumer debt levels are astronomical, our country's savings rate has been at 0% for several years, and Suzy Orman and Dave Ramsey can't talk fast enough.
As we look around us, we as Bankers must raise our hands and admit some guilt here. As an industry and as individual banks or credit unions, we have done a lousy job of counseling our customers on basic financial topics.
For example, when a young single who is just starting out on their own comes in to open their new accounts, do we help them in all the right ways? Do we talk to them about saving 10% of their take-home pay? Or advise them on the importance of their credit report and give them some tips on how to protect it? Something as simple as saying, "You know, if you set up your minimum payment for your credit card as an automatic payment online, you will never be late. This not only saves you late fees and interest rates as high as 36%, but protects something even more important.... your credit score." Usually, we just take the credit card application and don't mention anything about using it wisely.
How many times when people say they don't have a savings account do we offer some friendly advice, as their banker and friend, that they really should put away some money every payday... and that we can help them get it set up to come directly out of their paycheck and go into their savings account...? Not to mention how boring most of our savings options are-that's a topic for another day!
These examples are just for the young people who need to get a firm financial foundation started so they can experience financial success throughout their lives. But we don't train our employees to do this. We don't require them to help all of our customers at the level that they really need.
This wouldn't be such a problem if people got financial education elsewhere... but where are they to get it?
Obviously, the parents don't necessarily know it or pass it down. Some high schools teach it; some states require it.... but most states do not. In those states, the kids who take consumer education are few, as resources and teachers are not always available. Even most college graduates have never had a course in financial education.
Isn't it time that as bankers, we start to take some responsibility for teaching our customers some basic financial principles? Do we really just care about "making the sale" or "cross-selling"? At Market Match, we include financial counseling in our cross-sell training series, the Winning Team. But I am curious if any of you out there are using other programs or materials to ensure that your employees are prepared to have deeper conversations with your customers? Please email me at slovejoy@marketmatch.com and let me know if you are a leader in this area of financial literacy.
I believe, as a Banker, that we can do better.