State Treasurer McIntire, Seattle Seahawks' Jackson, Jump$tart Washington Coalition, and Visa Inc. Collaborate to Launch Statewide Rollout of Financial Football

Seattle, WA – November 1, 2011 – Tackling the problem of financial illiteracy among Washington teenagers head-on, State Treasurer James McIntire, Seattle Seahawks' Quarterback Tarvaris Jackson, Jump$tart Washington Coalition, and Visa Inc. today announced the statewide rollout of a new effort to improve the money management skills of high school and middle school students. This free educational video game and classroom curriculum, called Financial Football, was developed by Visa Inc.

Treasurer McIntire kicked off this new financial literacy campaign today at Rainier Beach High School with help from Seahawks' Tarvaris Jackson, Jump$tart Washington Coalition and Visa officials. Jackson shared his personal experiences on the importance of money management with students. McIntire and Jackson then rolled up their sleeves and led student teams in a hard-fought, high energy game of Financial Football.

The centerpiece of Visa's nationwide educational initiative with the NFL and NFL PLAYERS, Financial Football helps students and adults tackle their financial futures. This free game is accompanied by a classroom curriculum and is being distributed by the Treasurer's office to every public middle and high school in the state of Washington.

"Financial Football is a wonderful way to get students interested in personal finances and gives them a financial playbook they can use the rest of their lives. This is a valuable program and a great partnership between my office, Jump$tart Washington Coalition, Visa, and the NFL," said Treasurer McIntire.

"Kids need to know how to make smart money management decisions early in life," said Jackson. "It takes the combined efforts of parents, teachers and mentors within the community to give teenagers a strong background in personal finance."

Available online, at www.watreasurer.financialfootball.com, Financial Football puts students' fiscal knowledge to the test in an online simulation game environment by combining the structure and rules of the NFL with financial education questions of varying difficulty. Visa has also released the game as a free iPhone app on iTunes, along with an optimized HD iPad version.

"We are thrilled to be a part of this event with Treasurer McIntire and grateful for Visa's generous support in making these valuable resources available to students and educators here in our state," said Amy O'Donell, President, Jump$tart Washington Coalition. "For over a decade, Visa has been committed to promoting financial literacy and we are proud to assist Treasurer McIntire and Jump$tart Washington Coalition in their efforts to strengthen financial education," said Nancy Panter, Corporate Relations Manager, Visa Inc.

This launch is part of a national educational campaign with Visa, the NFL and NFL PLAYERS, now in its seventh season. Since 2006, Visa has reached agreements with thirty-two states to distribute Financial Football to every high school and middle school in those states, including Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin.

Financial Football is part of Practical Money Skills for Life (www.practicalmoneyskills.com) a free, award-winning financial education program that reaches millions of people around the world each year. Launched in 1995, the program is now available in ten languages in thirty countries. At Practical Money Skills for Life, educators, parents and students can access free educational resources including personal finance articles, games, lesson plans, and more. Visa also runs What's My Score (www.whatsmyscore.org), a leading higher education consumer awareness program.

About Visa Inc.
Visa is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, businesses, financial institutions and governments in more than 200 countries and territories to fast, secure and reliable digital currency. Underpinning digital currency is one of the world's most advanced processing networks–VisaNet–that is capable of handling more than 20,000 transactions a second, with fraud protection for consumers and guaranteed payment for merchants. Visa is not a bank, and does not issue cards, extend credit or set rates and fees for consumers. Visa's innovations, however, enable its financial institution customers to offer consumers more choices: Pay now with debit, ahead of time with prepaid or later with credit products. For more information, visit usa.visa.com/about-visa/our_business.html.