Knowledge against indebtedness: financial education mediated by digital technologies

Abstract

Purpose In Brazil, an increasing number of older people are getting into debt (Paraíso, Fernandes, 2019). There are different reasons for that, such as critical life events, low financial knowledge, aggressive marketing by financial institutions, seduction of the consumer market and low income. (Doll et al., 2021). In view of the Brazilian scenario, federal law nº 14.181/21, known as the Over-indebtedness Law, was created. It enables reconciliation through debt renegotiation before the courts, guaranteeing an existential minimum (Bertoncello, 2015). Although there are some financial education initiatives, few actions are suitable for older people (Doll, Hollerweger, 2021). Considering the potential of digital technologies for financial education (Hollerweger, 2018), a partnership between the School of Education of UFRGS, the Public Defender's Office of the State of Rio Grande do Sul and the Court specializing in reconciliation is developing a project to disseminate more information about financial issues using different digital technologies. The target audience of this information are mature and older adults, especially people with low income and people in debt. Method The project consists of the elaboration of educational materials in digital format, such as short videos and informative cards to be disseminated on social networks, institutional websites of the organizations involved and by other ways of digital communication. The objective is to bring, by digital technologies, information in a clear, objective and accessible way to the population, with the aim of preventing indebtedness and guidance for seeking support in cases of over-indebtedness. Before disseminating the information material, it will be evaluated by a focus group of older people, to discuss the quality of information, language, ease of understanding and possible impact on prevention and guidance for the problem of indebtedness. The analysis of the data obtained will consist of analyzing the content of the evaluations using the content analysis method. Results and Discussion An analysis of data so far shows that the lack of financial knowledge, such as understanding the meaning of interest or how to read a credit card bill represents a trap for this population that can lead to indebtedness in a short time. In this way, the initial focus of digital educational material should address exactly these questions.