We in Asiakastieto Group provide information services for intelligent decisions. Our information creates high transparency and deeper trust in our society. The importance of responsibility is increasing continuously in the society today. Therefore, responsible operation, such as uncompromising compliance with legislation is very important. It is important for us that also our customers and the society in both our markets (Finland and Sweden) can realize the principles of responsibility and transparency using the services we have refined from the data we provide.
One important and big part of our work with social responsibility is to educate and inspire young people about their private economy. That is something we work with on a daily business in Finland and Sweden.
Why is that important for our society?
Young adults have the desire to increase their awareness of personal finance and creditworthiness, and we have a lot of knowledge on the subject that we would like to invite. We simply do this because we want to contribute to promoting the personal financial knowledge of this target group. What are the risks for young people to end up in debt and how do you view savings? Is it the school’s role to teach everyday economy? Are the parents or the media, the banks or the companies responsible to educate young adults? We believe that we need to do it together. Teachers, families and friends, but also we as a company, can do a lot when it comes to educating young people in their private economy.
The three most common areas, within which young people have debts today, are from spontaneous e-commerce purchases, purchase of mobile subscriptions and SMS loans. We believe that we all jointly have a responsibility for this. We call it “savings culture”. Therefore, we also want to educate and teach young people how to increase their creditworthiness, just as parents, schools and banks do.
A few decades ago, we had more of a savings culture in the society. In today’s era, with social media as the largest influencing means, where celebrities showcase beautiful images of new expensive shoes, bags and so on, we have created a strong buying culture instead, where young people easily take a text message loan. In order to create a change when it comes to attitudes towards money and savings, we contribute by inspiring and educating young people in Sweden and Finland for free, about their private financial situation, payment defaults and credit information.
TarkkaFyrkka is the ongoing program in Finland for young people between 15-21 years old. The goal of TarkkaFyrkka is to share beneficial information to young people about their own finance and payment defaults. We use different methods to reach that goal like classroom workshops, social media conversations, co-operation with other organisations, participating to seminars and developing self-study material.
The Bill is the ongoing program in Sweden for young people in the age of 18-26 years. Within the program, we create inspirational and educational Meetups and Awards.
We also offer all people in Sweden between 18-21 years the product Kreditkollen for free (the product costs 49 SEK/month. Kreditkollen is a digital educational tool that help people to follow their own credit rating and to take control over their personal finances. It is perfectly used for those dreaming of buying their first own home or first new car, and cannot afford it today.
Maybe you have a young adult at home who would like to learn more about their economy? Here you can read more:
The Bill
Victoria Preger
Director, Marketing and Communications
Asiakastieto Group
