Expert Highlights Critical Gaps as Awareness Grows Around ‘Get Smart About Credit Day’
The JN Foundation is urging Jamaicans to seek opportunities to raise their financial literacy and improve their money habits, especially around credit management.
The emphasis on credit management aligns with the broader goals of ‘Get Smart About Credit Day’, being observed on October 16 this year. The annual observance, launched in 2003 by the American Bankers Association Education Foundation, aims to promote responsible use of credit among young people and raise the level of financial education. This awareness will promote how informed financial decisions can lead to long-term stability. ‘Get Smart About Credit Day’ is celebrated on the third Thursday in October every year.
Rose Miller, financial education consultant with the JN Foundation, said the day is critical for Jamaica. She said many individuals and small businesses still struggle to understand how credit works, which contributes to the country’s overall low financial literacy rate. She stressed that this gap in knowledge often results in poor financial decisions and negative consequences.
“We want to ensure that the financial education of our nation is moving to another level,” she said. “We are still too far down on the financial literacy bar. We need to get the gauge up to a much higher level as our survival as families and as a nation depends on our ability to utilise not only credit but the other tools like budgeting, savings, investments and even insurance, to get to another place financially.”
Financial literacy in Jamaica has consistently been low. In 2015, the S&P Global Financial Literacy Survey’s report ‘Financial Literacy Around the World’ found that only 33 per cent of adult Jamaicans were financially literate. More recently, the 2022 ‘Financial Literacy Baseline Survey,’ conducted by the Bank of Jamaica (BOJ), revealed that the same proportion of youth aged 12–19 were financially literate, highlighting a persistent gap in financial knowledge across generations.
Mrs Miller said while the JN Foundation has been working to increase financial literacy among Jamaicans through initiatives such as the JN Financial Academy, collective effort, ongoing education and public awareness are key to narrowing the gap.
“You won’t see any impact if you just sit back and do nothing. You must take action. One of the things we also emphasise is to bring someone else along with you on the education journey – a
family member, a child, a spouse – so that as you increase your own knowledge, you also share it with those in your sphere. That’s how real progress happens,” she said.
As part of this year’s observance of ‘Get Smart About Credit Day’, the Foundation, through the JN Financial Academy, has organised a free Smarter Credit Day Workshop for October 16 to help individuals strengthen their credit habits and deepen their understanding of credit reports and scores. The workshop, which features presentations from two of Jamaica’s credit bureaus and personal testimonials from individuals successfully building and repairing their credit, was designed to empower participants with practical knowledge to achieve long-term financial stability.
Mrs Miller noted that the initiative builds on the JN Financial Academy’s Smarter Credit Course, which has successfully facilitated three cohorts to date.
“We designed the workshop so that participants leave with the knowledge they need to access and use credit in ways that benefit them, including an understanding of the five Cs of credit -character, capacity, capital, collateral and conditions – which collectively help to assess whether a borrower can use credit wisely and repay responsibly,” she said. “It’s all about empowerment and education because we want our Jamaican people to be really smart about their money,” she concluded.
