Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire Senior National Correspondent
Flau’jae Johnson is no stranger to pressure. As a standout junior guard for LSU’s women’s basketball team, she has learned how to manage the intensity of big games, the demands of academics, and the responsibility of being a high-profile athlete in the era of Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals. Now, she’s adding another role to her résumé—helping relieve consumer debt for thousands of African American families in Louisiana. “I’ve been working with Experian for quite some time now,” Johnson said during an appearance on the Black Press of America’s Let It Be Known News. “We did a lot of things just for helping students learn about financial literacy. So, when this opportunity came about, I was ecstatic. I was like, wow, this is really going to help change lives because debt can really hold people back. They’re just fighting to survive instead of learning how to build more finances.”
Experian’s latest initiative will relieve $5 million in consumer debt for 5,000 families in Louisiana, one of the states with the highest percentage of poverty in the U.S., according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The credit organization noted that 50 percent of African Americans over 18 are “very/fairly worried” about getting out of debt, and the state has one of the highest unbanked rates in America at 8.1 percent. Further, 52 percent of African American adults indicated they are working to rebuild their credit, and about 1 in 4 have their mortgage applications denied. The initiative, which was carried out in partnership with ForgiveCo, a public benefit corporation (PBC), aims to ease the financial burden of those struggling with debt. To further incentivize success, Experian will add $100,000 in additional debt relief for every game LSU wins in the upcoming college basketball tournament, up to $500,000. “Helping it aligns with the tournament, the more games we win, that’ll be 100K more that we’re adding into the pot,” Johnson said. “Coming to the Louisiana community and trying to help is what I want to do because they poured into me, and they kind of adopted me since I came here.”
For Johnson, this partnership is about more than just this moment—it’s about helping create long-term financial knowledge that can benefit families and young people alike. “I’m the type of person who says, put your money where your mouth is,” she said. “If you really want to help, do that. And that’s what they’re doing. Five million dollars is a lot of money, and 5,000 families, that’s a lot of people. This is just the start.” Johnson hopes this partnership and her platform will encourage more young people to take financial literacy seriously. “Learn how to use credit,” she said. “A lot of people don’t know how to use credit. There are so many ways to use credit for what you need, your business, and your future. There are so many entrepreneurs in my generation now. If they know how to use credit to be financially successful, that would be one of my tips.”
More information about Experian’s debt relief initiative can be found at experian.com/relief.
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