Financial concerns are stressors experienced by many couples and are negatively associated with relationship outcomes, such as relational satisfaction. Racial and ethnic minority (REM) couples are disproportionately affected by financial stress, as they are overrepresented in the lower socioeconomic bracket. In a sample of 299 low‐income REM couples who participated in a relationship education programme, we explored how financial stress can influence relationship functioning, as well as the mediating relationship of couple coping. The results revealed a good fit between the data and the dyadic model, suggesting that financial stress indicators can influence relationship functioning. Moreover, couples' change in dyadic coping after a relationship education programme mediated the relationship between couple distress at baseline and couple adjustment after the relationship education programme. Implications for the findings and future research are discussed. Practitioner points Dyadic coping is one vehicle through which relationship education programmes enhance relationship functioning in low‐income REM couples experiencing financial stress. Processing dyadic coping reactions and behaviour during psychotherapy may serve as a method to build, improve or enhance the couple identity of two partners.