ACA International Selects Winners of 2006 Loomer-Mortenson Scholarships

ACA International, the Association of Credit and Collection Professionals (ACA), has announced the winners of its ACA International Foundation Loomer-Mortenson Scholarship for 2006.

The Loomer-Mortenson Scholarship is dedicated to advancing the higher education of people employed in the credit and collection industry, and their dependent children. Formerly open only to ACA International employees and their dependents, the program was recently amended to add eligibility for employees and dependents of any company affiliated with the credit and collection industry, or for those employed in a collection or credit management function.

One first place award of $3,000 and two second place awards of $1,000 were given this year. Winners were selected based on grade point average and an essay on the importance of financial literacy education.

First place winner Robert Gibbs, son of Howard Gibbs, Redline Recovery Services LLC, Alpharetta, Ga., believes financial literacy can help consumers manage the risks of both borrowing and investing. Because each of us is likely to be a lender and a debtor at different points in life, learning how the financial markets work is an investment that always pays off, no matter what our current circumstances. Robert will attend Yale University in the fall.

Yana Tamakhina, daughter of ACA International employee Yuliya Portnova, New Hope, Minn., encountered two types of customers while working at a local bank?those who took an active interest in their financial future by learning how credit works and those who were too busy with their daily minutiae to think about tomorrow. When a frantic customer showed up with a payment emergency at the end of business hours one day, it was clear to Yana this ?sudden? crisis was actually brought on by years of mismanagement.

Drifting along paying little attention to your credit will eventually lead to a rude awakening. But fortunately, it?s never too late to the develop money management habits that will make a positive difference in your life?financially and personally. Yana plans to major in finance at the University of Minnesota-Carlson School of Management.

College students don?t need to wait until graduation day for a shocking dose of the ?real world,? according to Alexander Smith, son of ACA International employee Ted Smith, Crystal, Minn.; reality sets in even before the ink dries on the student loan papers. Borrowing for school is a wise investment in one?s future, but seeing the price tag is still an eye-opening experience. Taking on such a large obligation at the start of an academic career is itself a learning opportunity?with a lesson just as important as the education the loan makes possible. Alexander will study business or engineering at Bethany Lutheran College.

The ACA International Foundation Loomer-Mortenson Scholarship was created in 1985 and honors the memory of ACA member Robert E. Loomer and ACA staff member Irvin ?Dempsey? Mortenson.

Loomer, an ACA instructor from 1975-1984, was one of ACA?s most often requested instructors and was awarded the Charles F. Lindemann Memorial award as ACA?s Certified Instructor of the Year in 1979. Mortenson was ACA?s director of public affairs from 1973-1981, and was instrumental in negotiations with congressional committees that produced the version of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act signed into law in 1977.