The impetus for forming the Young Adult Consumer Education trust was the result of a class action consumer lawsuit. In 1999 two Wenatchee Washington attorneys, Bob Parlette and Scott Kane, both of whom specialized in consumer credit issues, settled a class action lawsuit they had brought against Sears Roebuck. Sears had changed the terms of their credit card agreement and wrongfully, and retroactively, increased the interest rates that they had previously promised borrowers that they would have on their credit cards. Recognizing their error, Sears negotiated a nationwide class action settlement that refunded a portion of the ill gotten interest, a sum that was approximately $156 million.

Just before the settlement was reached, there had been an article in the USA Today that Parlette saw relating a story about two young college students in the State of Oklahoma who had signed up for credit cards while enrolling in their respective colleges. As a consequence of the easy credit given, and because neither of these students had received proper education on the dangers of over spending using easy credit, they were both independently racked up huge debt with their newly acquired credit cards which they had no means to repay. They were so distraught with the prospect of having to file bankruptcy and telling their parents about their financial difficulties that they both decided to take their own lives. As a result of reading this article, It was decided by the plaintiffs' attorneys and Sears to establish a non-profit organization that would develop free curriculum that could be used in high schools throughout the United States to teach financial literacy. As a consequence, the Young Adult Consumer Education Trust (YACET) was formed in 1999 with this stated purpose.