Capital One's Annual Back-to-School Shopping Survey Finds Current Economic Environment, School Budget Cuts Will Impact Back-to

  Capital One's Annual Back-to-School Shopping Survey Finds Current Economic
Environment, School Budget Cuts Will Impact Back-to-School Spending This Year

Survey finds increase in number of parents and teens discussing back-to-school
budgeting, yet many teens still report limited practical money management
experience

PR Newswire

MCLEAN, Va., July 31, 2012

MCLEAN, Va., July 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- As back-to-school shopping season
kicks into full swing, a new survey from Capital One Financial Corporation
(NYSE: COF) finds that current economic conditions and school budget cuts are
having a significant impact on back-to-school shopping plans, and that more
parents and teens are planning ahead and talking seriously about
back-to-school shopping and budgets.  

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120731/DC49066-INFO)

In Capital One's 12th annual back-to-school shopping survey, 59 percent of
parents say the amount of money they plan to spend on back-to-school shopping
this year is impacted by current economic concerns, and 42 percent of parents
say their spending will be impacted by school budget cuts. 

This is causing parents to plan ahead and think smartly about their
back-to-school shopping plans. The majority of parents report looking for
deals on back to school purchases, with 49 percent planning to do the majority
of their back-to-school shopping at discount retailers and 70 percent of
parents reporting that they are shopping throughout the summer and starting
early to score deals. More often than not, this also means getting their teens
involved.

"Parents are feeling the effects of the economy and school budget cuts. As
more parents are being asked to contribute basic classroom supplies, families
are having to plan ahead and re-think their back-to-school shopping habits,"
said Shelley Solheim, Director of Financial Education at Capital One. "The
silver lining is that parents are talking more with their kids about shopping
expectations, priorities and needs versus wants. These are sometimes tough
conversations to have—for both parents and teens—but extremely important as
many teens are looking to their parents for information on money management
topics like budgeting and saving."

Nearly 70 percent of parents and 84 percent of teens say they've discussed
needs versus wants for back-to-school items. About half of parents and teens
say they've created a back-to-school shopping budget, while 64 percent of
parents and 71 percent of teens say they've made a list of back-to-school
items together. These conversations are taking place at a much higher rate
than in 2011. Last year, less than one-third of parents and teens reported
making a shopping list or back-to-school budget.

Both parents and teens identified clothing as their top back-to-school
priority, followed closely by traditional supplies, such as notebooks, pens
and backpacks.

Teens Lack Practical Money Management Experience

The survey results also suggest that parents are missing opportunities to talk
to their teens about money on a regular basis, beyond back-to-school time
—only 33 percent of parents say they talk to their kids about money more than
once a week.

Although teens report high levels of confidence in their money management
skills—76 percent gave themselves an "A" or "B" grade for their current
knowledge of financial responsibility—teens have limited practical money
management experience. Half (49 percent) of teens haven't worked with their
parents to develop a budget for saving or spending their money, even though 61
percent report receiving an allowance. Teens also lack an array of other money
management experiences:

  o 81 percent of teens report that they don't have a checking account
  o Only 33 percent of teens have a summer job
  o 9 out of 10 teens say they are not involved in paying household bills or
    managing the household budget
  o 85 percent of teens don't use any online tools to help manage their
    finances

The good news is that teens have an appetite for financial education, with
half (52 percent) of teens saying they want to learn more about how to manage
their money. Teens are particularly interested in learning more about basic
personal finance topics such as budgeting (80 percent), saving (75 percent),
checking accounts (68 percent) and investing (67 percent).

Teaching Teens Personal Finance Skills

Capital One offers the following tips to help parents take advantage of the
back-to-school shopping season and other opportunities to talk to their teens
about money management skills:

  o Make back-to-school shopping a family affair. If you're part of the 21
    percent who haven't talked to your kids about back-to-school shopping at
    all, sit down together and make a list of what your teen already has, what
    they need and how much you can spend.
  o Do your homework. Make back-to-school shopping something you do together
    and use it as an opportunity to teach your teen how to comparison shop.
    You can also encourage your teen to look at prices online to see how they
    fit with their budget before you head to the store.
  o Crunch numbers together – establish a budget. Consider having your teen
    contribute money to purchasing school supplies and other necessities
    throughout the year. Discuss how much they may contribute and work it into
    your budget. Once you set a budget, stick to it.
  o Help set goals and steps to achieve them. The next time your teen gets a
    windfall—from a gift, allowance or part-time job—ask them if they have a
    plan for their money. If not, talk about things they might want to save
    for and how they can create their own budget.
  o Participate in the day-to-day. Teach your kids how to write checks,
    balance a budget and the importance of paying bills on time the next time
    you pay monthly bills. This gives teens an idea of how much utilities and
    other necessities, like auto insurance, will cost them as adults.

For more free tips and tools to talk with your kids about money, visit
CapitalOne.com/financial-education.

For parents looking for financial products designed for young adults, ING
DIRECT USA offers MONEY, a teen checking account with no fees and no minimum
balance required. It provides a debit card where both teens and their parents
receive text alerts each time a transaction is made. Capital One's Journey
Student Rewards Card helps young adults build credit responsibly by offering
an additional 25 percent bonus on the cash earned each month for paying their
bills on time. It also offers an interactive online tool that helps them keep
track of their credit history. 

Survey Methodology

Braun Research was engaged to conduct 1,024 interviews with 510 parents of
teenagers age 11-17 and 514 teenagers age 11 to 17 across the United
States. Surveys were conducted by telephone from July 6th through July 9th,
2012.  The margin of error for the interview is plus or minus 3.34 percentage
points. Interviews were monitored at random. Sampling for this study was
conducted across the United States using a national probability sample of all
exchanges and area codes of households with someone age 11-17 living
there. All interviews were conducted using a computer assisted telephone
interviewing system. Statistical weights were designed from United States
Census Bureau statistics.

About Capital One
Capital One Financial Corporation (http://www.capitalone.com/) is a financial
holding company whose subsidiaries, which include Capital One, N.A., Capital
One Bank (USA), N. A., and ING Bank, fsb, had $213.9 billion in deposits and
$296.6 billion in total assets outstanding as of June 30, 2012. Headquartered
in McLean, Virginia, Capital One and ING DIRECT offer a broad spectrum of
financial products and services to consumers, small businesses and commercial
clients through a variety of channels. Capital One, N.A. has approximately
1,000 branch locations primarily in New York, New Jersey, Texas, Louisiana,
Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia. A Fortune 500 company,
Capital One trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "COF" and
is included in the S&P 100 index.

SOURCE Capital One

Website: http://www.CapitalOne.com
Contact: Shelley Solheim of Capital One, +1-917-589-6203,
shelley.solheim@capitalone.com