Care leaver suitable: Credit scores and debt

This activity pack helps young people understand what a credit score is and what affects it, before exploring practical ways of dealing with different types of debt. They’ll also look at a series of different scenarios related to debt and devise their own practical, relevant examples on how they would respond to these situations.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this lesson, participants will be able to:

• Define what a credit score is, and why it’s important to have a positive credit rating
• Explain what can affect credit score and identify specific examples of what makes a poor/good/excellent rating
• Understand that a company will complete a credit check when applying for a financial product, and so it’s essential to look at past behaviour
• Recognise that there is a connection between credits scores and debt, as being in debt is one way that a credit score can be affected negatively
• Explain the difference between being in debt and being in financial difficulty
• Demonstrate different the ways in which people can act or access help if they find themselves in financial difficulty or debt

To access worksheets for all twelve activity packs in one place, use our ‘Setting yourself up for financial independence’ workbook.

Other LifeSkills lessons are also suitable for use with care leavers to support them on their employability journey, here are some to get started with:

• Staying positive (resilience)
• Problem solving

As a signatory to the Care Leaver Covenant, LifeSkills created with Barclays have worked directly with young people who have experienced care as well as the adults supporting them to create twelve activities adapted from existing financial education content. Activities include case studies, quizzes, discussions and practical tasks to build skills, knowledge and confidence, and can be delivered one-to-one or in a small group. Each pack includes guidance for support workers, worksheets for young people and useful signposting. Young people can register on LifeSkills to access further interactive resources on managing their money and building skills for the world of work here barclayslifeskills.com/young-people.