Financial Stress Is a Women’s Health Crisis

Through their “Financial Health is Women’s Health” campaign, Synchrony and Savvy Ladies are spotlighting a reality many women live every day.

Financial Stress Is a Women’s Health Crisis: Meet Three Leaders Doing Something About It

Financial stress doesn’t stay on a spreadsheet. It shows up in sleep, anxiety and the hard decisions that get delayed because there’s no room to think.

Research from the American Psychological Association has repeatedly found that women are more likely to name money as their top source of stress, pressure that can ripple into wellbeing at home and at work. As Savvy Ladies founder and CEO Stacy Francis puts it, “financial health is 100% tied to our physical health.”

Savvy Ladies helps address that stress with something practical: trusted, one-on-one guidance that helps women turn uncertainty into a plan.

Three leaders turning a crisis into action

Francis, along with Synchrony leaders Martina Davis (SVP and Senior Counsel, Corporate & Securities) and Cathy Dolsen (SVP and Portfolio Credit Leader for PayPal and Venmo), are united by the belief that financial knowledge is a form of wellbeing and that women deserve support that’s accessible and judgment-free.

Davis and Dolsen both volunteer as financial professionals on the Savvy Ladies Financial Helpline, helping women navigate debt, credit questions and major life transitions, and Synchrony is supporting the organization through grants and a call for more volunteers.

A nonprofit built on loss and a promise

Founded in 2003, Savvy Ladies provides women with free financial education and one-on-one guidance. Francis started the nonprofit after watching her grandmother remain trapped in an abusive marriage, in part because she lacked financial independence.

“It’s my love letter to my grandmother,” Francis said. “And it’s my passion that no woman ever finds herself backed into a situation that isn't healthy, that she can’t get out of, whether that’s a relationship, a medical situation or a housing situation.”

To date, Savvy Ladies has served more than 35,000 women through free resources including podcasts, articles and live programming, plus more than 250 financial literacy courses, including options in Spanish. The helpline remains the heart of the mission, a place to ask practical questions in a supportive setting.

“Whether you have a dollar in your pocket or you have a million,” Francis said, “we all need financial support and education so that we are making smart decisions.”

What happens when money stress starts affecting daily life

Helpline conversations often begin with dollars and cents and quickly widen. Volunteers hear how financial pressure steals sleep, spikes anxiety and drains the mental bandwidth needed to manage everyday life. They also hear how often women carry that stress quietly.

As Davis put it, “It’s a little bit of a taboo conversation, but it’s okay to ask for help. You can be a little bit vulnerable and there are people out there who are more than willing to help and set you on the right path forward.”

Francis sees a consistent shift. When someone finally has a safe conversation and leaves with clear next steps, fear eases and momentum follows.

The helpline: one conversation can change a trajectory

“The connection between your physical health and your financial health is so strong,” Dolsen said. “Once it breaks in some way, women are really struggling to figure out how to get themselves out of that situation.”

Through the Savvy Ladies Financial Helpline, women are matched one-on-one with volunteer financial professionals. More than 7,000 women have been connected with volunteer partners so far. Among those who engaged, 70% reported taking action on their financial plans and 90% stayed connected for ongoing support.

The stories behind those numbers are often shaped by life transitions.

After a divorce, hidden liability surfaced. One woman believed she was protected because her divorce agreement stated her former husband would pay off shared credit card debt. She didn’t realize her name remained on the accounts. When he stopped paying, she was still legally responsible. With coaching and resources from Savvy Ladies, she paid down the debt, built an emergency fund and retirement savings and eventually started her own business.

A caller rebuilding from homelessness found a path forward. Another woman was referred through the nonprofit Bottomless Closet while homeless and living in her car. With help from helpline volunteers and Savvy Ladies courses on getting out of debt, building an emergency fund and saving for the future, she rebuilt stability. A few years later, Francis says, she had launched her own company.

Misinformation threatened years of progress. Davis has worked with women who were told their debt would “clear itself” if they didn’t pay. Often the first step is correcting misinformation, then laying out actions that are actually in the caller’s control.

Why credit matters for women’s financial health

For many callers, credit is where stress and opportunity collide. Building, or rebuilding credit can be confusing and overwhelming with no clear path on where to start.

Yet credit is important. A credit score can be a pathway to a healthier financial life or a barrier to affording what you want and need. Credit scores influence access to housing, mortgages and insurance and they shape interest rates that can add up to thousands of dollars over the life of a loan.

Many women come to the helpline with shared debt that never fully got untangled, or with limited experience as the primary financial decision-maker in the household. Dolsen says they’re often starting “not just from square one but almost from behind.”

Savvy Ladies and Synchrony meet at the intersection of responsible access to credit and education on how to use it. Davis calls it “the demystification of credit.” When women understand how credit works and how to build it deliberately, they gain flexibility and confidence in what comes next.

Turning stress into a plan: what callers ask for most

Calls are practical and often urgent. Common topics include:

• Raising credit scores
• Managing debt
• Evaluating loan options
• Building a workable budget

Often, the first job is correcting misinformation, then laying out steps that are actually in the caller’s control. Being heard matters too. “Many callers just need somebody who will listen,” Dolsen said, “and offer guidance without judgment.”

The helpline is also seeing a generational shift. The fastest-growing group reaching out is women ages 18 to 26, with questions about student loans, auto loans and credit habits that will shape their options later.

Why this matters and how you can help: put your financial skills to work, one hour a month

Synchrony and Savvy Ladies share a view that financial education should be accessible, practical and judgment-free.

Women’s financial stress is a health risk with downstream effects for families, workplaces and communities. The helpline’s results point to a simple takeaway: timely, judgment-free guidance can keep a short-term disruption from turning into a long-term setback.

As Francis has said from the beginning, no woman should ever find herself trapped in a situation she can’t get out of, financial or otherwise.

Beyond Savvy Ladies, Synchrony continues to expand its outreach on financial literacy and credit education. It recently announced a $2 million commitment in grants and in-kind donations to strengthen K–12 financial education, including plans to create 10 Synchrony Financial Literacy Labs in high schools nationwide.

Synchrony is also launching its employee-led Financial Literacy Service Corps, training employees to go into communities to support teachers and volunteer with partners such as Savvy Ladies and other community-based organizations. The goal is to reach people across the country, from students learning personal finance in classrooms to women seeking one-on-one guidance through programs like Savvy Ladies and many more.

Synchrony is also helping expand helpline capacity by recruiting volunteers both internally, and through its partner network and other connections. The goal is to increase Savvy Ladies’ ability to reach more women looking for answers.

You can help too. Savvy Ladies is seeking more volunteers, especially people who can support women with debt and credit questions. The commitment is built to be flexible and manageable, allowing professionals to participate meaningfully without disrupting their work or personal lives. Volunteers receive orientation, ongoing support and may select cases based on comfort level and expertise.

Fast facts about volunteering

• A typical commitment can be as little as one hour a month
• Volunteers receive an orientation on the volunteer portal, and ongoing support, and can choose cases that match their comfort level and expertise
• You aren’t waiting by a phone answering calls. Support requests come in online and you can choose which ones to answer based on your skills and comfort level.

Francis emphasizes that volunteers don’t need to know everything, but they do need to be confident in their area of expertise to answer questions on topics such as budgeting, managing debt, building a workable budget and improving credit scores.

“Women need a trusted guide and a supportive conversation that helps them move forward, which our current Synchrony volunteers handle that so well,” Francis said. “We are seeking additional volunteers with that combination of financial expertise and a caring approach to support the increasing demand from women seeking quality advice.”

If you want to learn more and see if volunteering or getting involved in other ways is right for you, visit: https://www.savvyladies.org/get-involved/