Free Toolkit Offers Expert Personal Finance Resources From Citi, Teaches Practical Financial Lessons Not Available in Most Colleges

NEW YORK, NY— Sep 4, 2013 – Manilla, the leading, free and secure digital mailbox service that allows consumers to manage their bills and other personal accounts on desktop, tablet and mobile devices, today announced that it has released a financial literacy toolkit, designed to help students and recent grads make the financial transition into the “real world” as they begin to manage their own finances, bills and other household accounts.

“Manilla is a great financial, mail and organization tool used by consumers of all ages and economic levels,” said Marc Karasu, vice president of marketing at Manilla. “However, we felt a particular responsibility to create this toolkit for our younger customers, as they enter a time in their lives when adopting smart financial habits is essential to their future success.”
The free toolkit, called “Manilla’s Financial Literacy Toolkit: The life lessons you didn’t learn in school,” offers practical expert financial resources from Manilla and partner Citi and helps solve the problem many students face of not having access to basic money management principles in their own colleges and universities.

“Today’s students are balancing the responsibilities of work, studies and their finances to achieve success,” said Linda Descano, CFA®, managing director and head of content and social, North America Marketing, Citi, and president and CEO of Citi’s Women & Co. “We’re excited to partner with Manilla on this effort to help students understand how to manage their money and provide them with lessons to help them progress toward their financial and professional goals.”

The toolkit is available for download and on Manilla’s online news site, The Manilla Folder. It covers four essential financial lessons: (1) Finances in College, including how to take out loans and pay off student debt, splitting the cost of college with parents and money-saving tips; (2) Surviving College 101, outlining what to pack as you head to school; (3) Finances in the “Real World,” covering saving and spending, budgeting and credit cards; and (4) Surviving the “Real World” 101, which offers advice on networking and getting a job post-graduation.

“Many students and recent college graduates struggle with figuring out how to manage their finances and lives as they transition from the college environment to getting a job,” said Maitland Greer, senior marketing manager of Manilla and head of the company’s financial literacy initiative. “Unfortunately, many colleges and universities offer few resources on basic budgeting and financial management, which are essential lessons for people who are just starting to manage their own bills. We’re eager to provide this resource for students, who we hope will use it for this next exciting phase of their lives.”

In addition to providing students with the free toolkit, Manilla is also giving them the chance to win cash in the back-to-school version of the Manilla Get It Together Challenge. By getting organized with Manilla, students and recent grads are automatically entered to win a grand prize of $2,500. Anyone can take the Challenge on Manilla’s Facebook page or at manilla.com/together.

The toolkit launch comes after the recent news that Manilla reached 500,000 activated users and expects to hit 1 million by the end of the year. Manilla also recently announced its custom integration with AOL Mail and AOL.com, allowing Manilla to reach more than 25 million AOL users every day.

Manilla’s platform provides convenient, secure online access to all household accounts and services for more than 3,500 businesses. The free service helps consumers manage all of their household accounts, including financial accounts, utilities, subscriptions, daily deals and travel rewards programs, all through Manilla.com or via the highly rated Manilla Android or iOS mobile apps.

In addition to helping consumers manage their lives, Manilla also helps businesses more deeply engage with their customers, as shown by recent Manilla data. The data revealed that Manilla not only lowers paper mail costs for companies that have joined the Manilla service, but it also increases traffic, drives engagement and increases mobile downloads. Manilla also provides upsell and cross-sell opportunities for partners in an environment that is completely protected from competitors.

About Manilla
Manilla organizes and simplifies people’s lives by providing one secure access point to all household accounts and services. The free digital mailbox service helps consumers manage their mail and household accounts, including financial accounts, utilities, subscriptions, daily deals, and travel rewards programs, all through Manilla.com. Consumers can also use all of the Manilla features on the go by using Manilla’s 4+ star customer-rated Android and iOS mobile apps. Under a single password, Manilla gives customers an automated, organized view of all of their account information, text and email reminders to pay bills, renew expiring subscriptions, and manage soon-to-expire daily deals, all with unlimited storage and seamless document retrieval.

Manilla is a company incubated within and backed by Hearst Corporation. Manilla is the recipient of the Webby Award and People’s Voice Award for Best Banking/Bill Pay Service and was chosen as ABC News “App of the Week,” as one of Money Magazine’s “Top Money Apps” and as one of PCMag.com’s Top 100 Websites. For more information, please visit www.manilla.com.

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Rachel Shaffer
Allison+Partners
(646) 428-0626
Rachel@allisonpr.com