FinEx Materials User Testing

FinEx Materials User Testing
Financial Educator Recruitment Email

Subject: CFPB Focus Group Invitation

Dear [affiliate],
I’m writing to invite you to a gathering of financial educators to provide your insights and opinions to the
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on resources it is developing to help support financial
educators and enhance the financial capability of consumers.
The CPFB seeks to improve the utility and effectiveness of its financial education materials by testing
these materials with financial educators. Understanding how these tools are used in practice by
practitioners like you will allow the Bureau to improve them. The CFPB has contracted with Abt
Associates and Financial Literacy Group, independent research organizations, to conduct focus groups on
these materials and they need your help. They are currently recruiting focus group participants in [CITY
NAME] for [DATES].
Specifically, Abt will be conducting focus groups on these tools in our city:
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Auto Loan Shopping Sheet, a tool to support financial educators as they help clients shop for
cars and compare financing options. Although auto loans are one of the largest debts a household
takes on, only about half of car buyers who took out a loan say they compared loan offers.1 The
CFPB designed this resource to help financial educators explain to consumers how they can
negotiate terms of their auto loans.
Resource Inventory for Financial Educators, a document that describes free CFPB reports,
resources, and tools that are available for financial educators.
Behind on Bills?, a modular toolkit that financial educators can use to help their clients with a
range of budgeting challenges, including understanding income and spending patterns,
prioritizing bills, and responding to debt collectors.
Financial Well-Being Scale Questionnaire and Scoring Worksheet, a tool designed to help
financial educators measure their clients’ overall financial health. This tool is part of a larger
body of work that CFPB is conducting to better understand what drives financial well-being so
that programs and policies can be developed to improve the financial well-being of individuals
and families.
Families and Money Tool, set of resources to help financial educators work with their clients to
understand and identify how family issues around money impact decision-making and equip them
to navigate such issues.

Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. 2016. Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in
2015. https://www.federalreserve.gov/econresdata/2016-economic-well-being-of-us-households-in-2015Automobile-Purchase-Decisions-and-Auto-Lending.htm

A focus group session generally lasts about 2 hours and you will be compensated $50 to thank you for
your time. Participants typically reflect that they find the process engaging and informative. The CFPB
relies on experts like you to provide feedback when it develops resources—we hope that you will take
this opportunity to provide your insights and experiences to help shape tools and resources that will be
used by financial educators across the country. If you can help us, please click here to tell Abt Associates
your availability and answer a very short (less than 5 minute) survey about your background and work.
They want participation from a wide variety of financial educators but spots for the focus groups are
limited so please sign up quickly! If you have any questions, you can contact the Abt Project Director, Dr.
Anna Jefferson, at anna_jefferson@abtassoc.com or 617-520-2898.

Sincerely,
[FinEx Agency Contact]