September 11, 2023 • 26 mins
Ride Cincinnati is Sept. 17th, a grassroots bike tour to raise critical cancer research and cancer care funds to benefit our local and state-of-the-art Barrett Cancer Center at The University of Cincinnati. Founder Alison Gordon returns with new information about her own battle and the story of how her father created the ride. David Nevers from Western & Southern Life and Miles McDowell from Ride Cincinnati join Alison to explore how the corporation prioritizes the Cincinnati community and how to get involved, both in person and virtually.
Then, Megan O'Brien from Better Business Bureau Cincinnati breaks down the growing scams against a population one might think wouldn't fall for an online scam, because they live online! Everything young adults do is done through the smart phone, from shopping to banking, well, everything! And this fact makes them more susceptible to scammers. And most importantly, Megan discusses student loan scams that are popping up, with information to avoid getting ripped off.
BBB: Start with Trust® | Cincinnati, OH | Better Business Bureau®
Ride Cincinnati - Join the Charity Bike Ride for Cancer Research
Then, Megan O'Brien from Better Business Bureau Cincinnati breaks down the growing scams against a population one might think wouldn't fall for an online scam, because they live online! Everything young adults do is done through the smart phone, from shopping to banking, well, everything! And this fact makes them more susceptible to scammers. And most importantly, Megan discusses student loan scams that are popping up, with information to avoid getting ripped off.
BBB: Start with Trust® | Cincinnati, OH | Better Business Bureau®
Ride Cincinnati - Join the Charity Bike Ride for Cancer Research
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
This week on iHeart Since we getour momentum and energy from the passion that
the Barrett family has put toward thisride alongside Allison's family for the better part
of seventeen years. Now, RideCincinnati's back this year, the local nonprofit
worn out of a personal desire tocure cancer. We'll meet Alison Gorton,
(00:27):
who lost her mother to cancer andhear the story of how her father created
this ride to honor his wife andhow cancer has personally affected Allison. David
Nevers is here, the VP ofWestern and Southern Life, is the VP
of Communications and runs the ride.And Miles McDowell, who is the director
of marketing and production at Ride Cincinnatiand later. Millions of Americans have student
(00:51):
loans, so scammers are right nowtrying to take advantage of this news with
the interests and payments starting back beyondhigh alert, more and more sophisticated scams
targeting young people, those with collegeloans and credit cards, needing apartments.
It's all coming up. Megan O'Brienis here from the BBB NO on iHeart
Cincy with Sandy Collins. My firstguest from Ride Cincinnati is David Nevers,
(01:19):
who is the VP of Communications.Miles McDowell, the director of Marketing and
Production at Right Cincinnati and one ofthe founders of the ride. Alison Gordon,
who lost her mother to cancer andher father, created the ride.
Everybody, Welcome to iHeart Cincy.I think it's going to be a great
ride this year. House. Thesign ups going so far good. We're
(01:40):
actually on target. We're hoping tohave at least six hundred people, so
we're pleased so far. We havesome new corporate partners this year, and
we are continuing to grow. Theride is in honor of your mom.
(02:00):
You want to give us a littlebackground on how Right Cincinnati started with your
family? Sure, So. Unfortunately, we lost my mom to breast cancer
in two thousand and six, andmy father is a dentist and an avid
cyclist, and I had been involvedwith the Susan g Commen Race for the
(02:21):
Cure, so I had some experiencewith nonprofits and and her memory, we
decided to do a bike ride fundraiser. We connected with the Barretts and Western
Southern is our major sponsor, andin two thousand and seven, Ride Cincinnati
was started and the money that weraised for the first ten years went to
(02:45):
breast cancer research at the University ofCincinnati Barrett Cancer Center, and we rebranded
about five years ago and the moneynow goes to all cancer research and that's
is how it started, and that'sfunnel through you see, correct. Yeah,
yeah, lots of great work beingdone. Okay, David Nevers from
(03:08):
Western and Southern, So you're runningthe ride now, I'm part of a
team that plans and executes the ride. Of course, at Western and Southern
we're very heavily involved. We commita great deal of our internal resources to
making this as successful as it canbe. In addition to the financial support
(03:30):
we provide, we uh we uh. We get our our momentum and energy
from the passion that the Barrett familyhas put towards this ride alongside Allison's family
for for the for the better partof seventeen years. Now, Western and
(03:52):
Southern we're in the business of servingpeople, our clients, our customers,
and our community and and this rideis aimed at saving lives. We're making
great strides toward a couple of keygoals, not only to provide a sustained
funding stream for cancer research, butalso to move Cincinnati closer to a National
(04:14):
Cancer Institute designated cancer care center.We're the largest city in the country without
one. We're aiming to change thatand we're making progress. We talked about
that last year, didn't we MilesWe were talking about how that was in
the pipeline. Where are we atwith that right now? We did indeed
Sandy, so we're still in theworks. There's a few factors that go
(04:36):
into obtaining the NCI designation. Oneis you have to have a dedicated and
talented group of doctors and researchers,which which you see has. You also
have to be a research hospital,and being university backed helps you see position
themselves for this NCI designation. Butthe other factors involved our financial factors and
(04:59):
communities port and that's where Ride Cincinnaticomes in. We're part of a larger
campaign that David you know, sortof alluded to, you know, aimed
at raising the money, but we'realso not only the annual giving arm,
but we kind of add that communitysupport. So you know, David,
David lightly touched on what Western Southerndoes to Ride Cincinnati, but they are
(05:20):
our title sponsor and our largest groupof writers. Uh. They're bringing you
know, two hundred people to rideCincinnati every year, and in addition to
that, they're helped generating support fromother organizations in the city. They're calling
on you know, business partners,friends, family members, and getting other
people involved. So this year we'reseeing, you know, an influx from
(05:43):
teams like Kroger. You see,has got just about every college on campus
coming in some representation. Fifth Thirdis joining as Great American has been a
long time supporter, Turner Construction allto fiber BSI engineering, triple Au,
name it. We've got representation fromcompanies all across the city, and Western
and Southern has helped helped us getthere by bridging gaps where we need it.
(06:10):
Miles. I'm not sure if you'reold enough. Alison you might be,
and David you look like you mightbe too. Remember when you used
to take a paper around the officeand say, hey, I'm right in
this ride. Will you sign up? Give me a dollar for every mile
that I go and then I'll comeback and pick it up. Those were
the days, weren't they. Now? If you don't really know anybody that's
particularly writing, you're thinking, well, how can I support the cause?
(06:33):
And your website is really interesting becauseyou've got all the teams there, and
I saw how large Western and Southern'steam was the largest one. But a
lot of these other big corporations havegood teams too. But you can actually
just put your money wherever you wantto support, maybe your favorite business.
So Allison, can you talk aboutthat for just a second. Sure,
(06:56):
you can go on our website Ricincinnatidot org and you can sign up on
a peloton, which means the samething as a team. You can sign
up as a writer and you cansend invites for people to fund you,
or you can simply fund a teamor fund a writer. It's called fund
sharing where you may not want toride, but you can support a fellow
(07:16):
writer or a fellow team simply tomake a donation and help their efforts.
So you can find your favorite businessesthere, or you can just maybe find
the one that doesn't have as muchmoney as the others and say I'm going
to help that guy right there,that one guy as raising money on his
own. The route is different thisyear. Who wants to talk about that?
(07:38):
Miles, why don't you tackle thatone? Yeah, I'd be happy
to Sandy, And just to tackonto what Alison just said, we also
have donations that go directly to ageneral fund to ride, since that a
general fund, So if you're justlooking to support and put your own name
on there, you're welcome to doit, you know. And one hundred
percent of the money that we raise, our riders raised, or that's don't
(08:00):
to the general fund, one hundredpercent is going to fund cancer research at
Bear Cancer Center. So we're pleasedto get every dollar and every dollar as
well spent. But yes, asyou said, the routes are a little
different this year. We're starting atSawyer Point. We've got five different distances
ten miles, fifteen, twenty four, thirty six, and sixty four miles.
(08:20):
They'll start down Riverside Drive, connectwith the lunk and Trail, and
then utilize the Little Miami Trail,the longest ride going out and back all
the way to King's Mill at atthe Powder Fact, the old powder factory
there. Yeah, I saw that. I got a little I got a
little out of breath just looking atthe map. You see how far you
could be. But they'll they'll startearlier in the morning, isn't that right,
(08:43):
and then get the ride and comeback and join the whole group when
everybody's everybody's done, So Saturday islike the kickoff day. Let's talk a
little bit about what happens on Saturday, especially for people who may not be
riding but want to come down andparticipate. Sure, down ahead, Elsa,
the Phelps Hotel is where we haveour kickoff party, and that's going
(09:03):
to be from five to eight,So all registered riders are invited with a
complimentary guest. It's a fabulous party. We have live music, we have
food, we have entertainment, wehave community leaders speaking and it's a kind
of a big thank you and abig let's get excited for tomorrow and then
at the ride on September seventeenth,when the riders come back, we have
(09:28):
another celebration festival. We have overfifteen food booths, we have music,
place to park your bikes, andit's just a wonderful celebration where everybody walks
around, meets the sponsors, giveseverybody a high five for actually riding twenty
five miles, ten miles, sixtythree miles, and it's just it's a
(09:50):
fun, feel good, fabulous event. It looks like the weather might be
cooperating here in the next week.What have you heard David, do you
have you your wet finger up intothe air and trying to gauge the forecast
for that weekend? So you knowwe're we're now just over a week out,
so I can I can safely throwa forecast out there with with without
(10:15):
fear of any repercussions. No snow, we got Okay, I give any
snow this year. It's high ofeighty. I check every day we have.
We have been very lucky over theyears, and I expect that luck
streak of luck to continue. Well, you've picked a good time of the
year too, because it's Uh,September is the best month pretty much when
it comes to temperatures around the TryState. So, Miles, is there
(10:39):
anything else that you want to coverhere today? For right Cincinnati, we
just want to encourage people to takea look at ride since NATI get involved,
however, you can be that asa rider, as a donor.
We have a volunteer link on ourwebsite. Uh. The work that's being
done by by our riders and oursponsors is really important. Uh, you
(11:01):
know, to those facing a cancerdiagnosis. It's important to the city to
get the CNCI designation, and we'dlove to have involvement in any way possible.
So so look at our website,rights to say dot org and sign
up for something. And David,you know, Western and Southern is such
a well known name in this town, but for people that aren't your actual
(11:22):
customers, they might wonder, well, what is Western and Southern. So
let's just do a quick spiel foryou guys. UH Life Insurance is that
correct? Life insurance, Retirement andinvestments. We're a financial services company.
We're in the business of protecting UHand and enhancing UH a family's financial future,
(11:43):
securing that future so that so thatwhat they need to sustain their lifestyle
and let them live the life theywant to live is there for for the
duration of their their lifetime. Andwho on the board of directors is the
Glenn Campbell fan. Well, we'vegot many paths, but that comes straight
(12:05):
from John Barrett. Yeah, that'sa that's a reference to the commercial that
everybody knows what the Chris collins Worthwe want. We want our customers financial
future, the security that comes withknowing they can place their trust in us.
We want that that that that peaceof mind, want their future to
(12:26):
be gentle on their mind. That'sthat's the song, so it's a nice
fit for us. It's one ofmy favorite songs. So I listened to
it every single time and you neverget tired of it. That's right,
Allison. Just to wrap up housethings with you. So what I would
like to say is I am officiallya three time breast cancer survivor and the
(12:48):
medication that I'm on right now issaving my life and it wasn't here so
so several years ago. So bydoing Rights Cincinnati and helping find cancer research,
which you are prolonging lives and savinglives. And every year there's research
that comes out that's new. Canceris at least the type that I have
(13:09):
is similar to diabetes. It canbe controlled, but they still have to
continue to manufacture medications to attack andprolonged lives and it's working. So what
Ride Sincinnati's doing is critical to thecity and to prolonging lives. And I
(13:31):
just encourage anybody to get involved,you know, do it for somebody that's
had cancer, that that you've lost, Do it for somebody like myself that's
that's living with it and surviving.I'm doing well now. It's it has
been a tough year. I mustsay, but I'm grateful to the medication
that I'm on and hopefully have anice future. And you'll be at the
(13:54):
ride. I will be at theride. Sounds good well, Miles with
all and David Nevers and Alison Gordonfrom Right Cincinnati. Thank you all for
being here today. Thank you,Thanks for the opportunities ending. Thanks Sandy
coming up in just a moment.How to avoid scams for young people more.
I heard Sincy is on the way. This is fifty five KRC,
(14:16):
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to you by the National Highway TrafficSafety Administration, Project yellow Light Noise and
the AD Council. Welcome back.This is iHeart SINCI tri State Public Affairs
(15:52):
program produced here in Cincinnati. I'myour host, Sandy Collins. My next
guest is what the Better Business Bureau. Megan O'Brien is the Outreach, engagement
and PR specialist for the Better BusinessBureau serving Southern Ohio, Northern Kentucky,
and southeast Indiana. We have lotsof questions today about scams aimed at college
age students. Okay, well,welcome Megan O'Brien. We appreciate you.
(16:17):
Taking time to be on iHeart SINCItoday. I have a daughter who's just
graduated from college, and the studentloan debacle has just been confusing and it's
on and it's off, and it'sgoing to be you know, postponed,
and it's so confusing for them andfor the parents. I understand that.
(16:41):
So there's that that you don't reallyhave anything to do with, but you
do handle people that are using thisopportunity to scam students. And I wanted
to talk to you about what weshould be watching for and what you're seeing
when it comes to scamming students,especially graduating you know, getting their college
(17:02):
loan information coming in. Let's startwith that first. Yes, absolutely millions
of Americans have student loans, Soscammers are right now trying to take advantage
of this news with the interests andpayments starting back here in October. In
fact, BB has already received multiplereports about student loan repayment scams under the
(17:26):
guise of new twenty twenty three guidelines. So typically what we're seeing is what
is being reported is you're receiving anemail, a letter, a phone call
from someone claiming you are eligible forstudent loan consolidation. Your ears perk up
and you're like, oh, youknow a payment reduction program or some similar
(17:49):
service. The scammer might say thisnew benefit is part of the twenty three
guidelines. They may even claim torepresent the fesay, So really, really
really keep an eye to that messagebecause typically you wouldn't be reached out from
the Federal student Aid at this atthis juncture right now. If you would
(18:15):
answer that call or respond to amessage, typically they'll ask you to confirm
your identity. So you know,the student loan program already has all this
information. Uh, this is justused to check your eligibility, and you
know this information might include your solcialsecurity number, your name, your address.
(18:40):
Student aid dot gov login typically hasall this information. So you're saying,
if you get somebody asking for that, there's your first red flag.
Absolutely, so you know that verifyingyour identity typically they should be providing that
to you right Well. That's thescary part is so much of our life
(19:00):
are now available online that people cansay, hey, you lived at this
address or you worked at this place, and they appear to have legitimate information
and they certainly don't. So arethere consolidation programs for the student loans or
is this all just made up?You know, I think there's just a
lot of unknowns right now. Whatwe know is is what we can report
(19:21):
on what has been coming in atthis point. You know, obviously go
to student aid dot gov and lookinto some information. Be proactive, like
between now and October first, isyour time really to be proactive, get
a plan in place, And Ido have some more tips. You know,
if your loan service or maybe mayhave changed during this pause, this
(19:41):
payment pause, research who your currentloan service or is right now. Make
sure your contact information is up todate. A lot of people have moved
addresses, locations, and you know, explore all the ways you can start
your repayment option. Typically re enrollingin a monthly auto pay program is one
(20:06):
way to avoid those myths or laypayments. A lot of people are worried
about what it's going to cost themto actually start repaying their loans. And
from what I understand, the Bidenadministration worked on reducing the amount that people
will have to pay back, andthere's some protections that are in place so
(20:29):
that you don't have to default ifyou're going to have trouble repaying your loans
to your loan services should have allof the information that you need, and
I know they do want to workwith students to get that debt paid off
accurately and with as little as penaltyas possible. I guess the good news
is there are some legitimate loan reliefprograms for borrowers, like if you were
(20:51):
a part of that requirement from theadministration the Biden Has administration. The important
thing to know is that that thisemail will say that you qualify for forgiveness
without further action on your part.So you know, there's lots of repayment
plan options that you can have newsavings on a valuable education. A save
(21:15):
plan is also an income driven paymentplan that could lower your monthly payment based
on your early income and family size. So I just got to check it
out with your with your loan servicer. What are some of these other scams
that are geared towards college students,especially going back to classes this fall.
(21:36):
Absolutely, we've seen a lot ofcredit card scams, you know, looking
for you know, those kids arelearning how to self budget, and we're
seeing some credit card credit card scamsfor the college students, apartment scams,
that's kind of tapered off a littlebit since the kids are already established in
(21:57):
their living situation. But you know, there when these kids go off to
college, they're really beginning there tomake their financial decisions. So there's just
a lot of unknown. So thatis you know, those are the two
big things we've seen, the apartmentliving situation, credit cards. My daughter
(22:18):
got caught in her freshman year,I think it was in college. She
got a virus on her computer,her laptop, and you know, was
scammed out of a couple hundred dollarsof you know, to fix to fix
the problem, and they logged intoher account and she's like, wait a
minute. She was smart enough toactually stop it before it got too bad.
And I said her, why didn'tyou call me? You know,
(22:41):
I'm the tech person. You knowthat I'm the one that's supposed to call.
And she said, Mom, Ijust wanted to do it myself,
you know. And I thought,oh, she's growing up. But she
said, I learned my lesson,you know, two hundred and fifty dollars
later. And she actually told methat was a pretty inexpensive lesson to learn
that you have to be very diligentyou know, it was nineteen at the
time, you know, so Iknow these things, these things kind of
(23:03):
happen. The too good to betrue apartments kind of hits me too,
because I realize so many people arerenting houses online, and it's not just
college students, but it's anybody whereyou're finding these amazing deals and you find
out that the person is trying tolease out something that they don't even own,
right and we've seen the property mightactually exist, it's just not that's
(23:25):
not the owner. So you know, these these are some fabulous properties that
people are finding and oh wow,this is just too good to be true.
This house is amazing. You know. We've we've definitely seen an uptick
in that as well, just withthe housing market as it is right now,
so you know, definitely reach out, go to the physical location.
(23:45):
There's a lot of great tips forthat at BBB dot org if you're looking
for an apartment renting anything like that. Also, like the same with the
credit card scams for the student collegestudents, we have a ton of tips
for college students who are you know, going out there making their own decisions
(24:07):
or financial decisions. And what we'reseeing right now is that age group is
being targeted the most, eighteen totwenty four. That's more, even more
than elderly believe it or not.So I read that in some of your
information, and it's probably easy tounderstand because isn't it true that students are
(24:29):
used to doing everything online and itjust all looks legit to them and they
don't realize whereas an older person who'safraid of the technology or doesn't like it
or doesn't want it doesn't fall forit is easily absolutely, you know.
And then also all the cash appsand everything is transactional through there, so
(24:52):
a lot of these services that thesecollege kids are and I have two college
kids myself, so I am alwaysblowing the whistle about these things with them.
And because you would think, youknow, it would be you know,
the elderly community or some other communities, but no, it's it's these
kids that are online doing everything online, looking for apartments, applying for credit
cards, shopping, ordering their groceries, you know, paying each other for
(25:18):
products and services. So yeah,there's just a lot. We can't stress
that enough, Like there's so manytips and we really want to we really
want that age group to use BBBdot org bring awareness to it so they
can go out in the world andmake smart financial decisions. It's hard to
know when it's legit, but thereare telltale signs, so go to BBB
(25:41):
dot org and get that information.Megan O'Brien, thank you for taking time
to educate us here today. Isthere anything else that you want to say
before we wrap up here? Yeah? You know, not all businesses are
created equal. You know. TheBBB raises the bar when it's standards for
trust and companies that meet those standardsexemplify honesty, integrity, excellence. And
(26:07):
you can find those businesses at BBBdot org. And remember there's a lot
of good information there on that websiteto protect yourself and your family BBB dot
org. And for our friends atRide Cincinnati, you can donate to a
team or sign up to ride onSeptember seventeenth. Go to Ride Cincinnati dot
org for all the information that youneed. Send your comments or suggestions for
this show to this email address.iHeart Cincy than i at iHeartMedia dot com
(26:32):
and be sure to check out theiHeart Cinci podcast free on the iHeartRadio app.
I'm Sandy Collins. iHeart Cincy isa production of iHeartMedia Cininnati
This week on iHeart Since we getour momentum and energy from the passion that
the Barrett family has put toward thisride alongside Allison's family for the better part
of seventeen years. Now, RideCincinnati's back this year, the local nonprofit
worn out of a personal desire tocure cancer. We'll meet Alison Gorton,
(00:27):
who lost her mother to cancer andhear the story of how her father created
this ride to honor his wife andhow cancer has personally affected Allison. David
Nevers is here, the VP ofWestern and Southern Life, is the VP
of Communications and runs the ride.And Miles McDowell, who is the director
of marketing and production at Ride Cincinnatiand later. Millions of Americans have student
(00:51):
loans, so scammers are right nowtrying to take advantage of this news with
the interests and payments starting back beyondhigh alert, more and more sophisticated scams
targeting young people, those with collegeloans and credit cards, needing apartments.
It's all coming up. Megan O'Brienis here from the BBB NO on iHeart
Cincy with Sandy Collins. My firstguest from Ride Cincinnati is David Nevers,
(01:19):
who is the VP of Communications.Miles McDowell, the director of Marketing and
Production at Right Cincinnati and one ofthe founders of the ride. Alison Gordon,
who lost her mother to cancer andher father, created the ride.
Everybody, Welcome to iHeart Cincy.I think it's going to be a great
ride this year. House. Thesign ups going so far good. We're
(01:40):
actually on target. We're hoping tohave at least six hundred people, so
we're pleased so far. We havesome new corporate partners this year, and
we are continuing to grow. Theride is in honor of your mom.
(02:00):
You want to give us a littlebackground on how Right Cincinnati started with your
family? Sure, So. Unfortunately, we lost my mom to breast cancer
in two thousand and six, andmy father is a dentist and an avid
cyclist, and I had been involvedwith the Susan g Commen Race for the
(02:21):
Cure, so I had some experiencewith nonprofits and and her memory, we
decided to do a bike ride fundraiser. We connected with the Barretts and Western
Southern is our major sponsor, andin two thousand and seven, Ride Cincinnati
was started and the money that weraised for the first ten years went to
(02:45):
breast cancer research at the University ofCincinnati Barrett Cancer Center, and we rebranded
about five years ago and the moneynow goes to all cancer research and that's
is how it started, and that'sfunnel through you see, correct. Yeah,
yeah, lots of great work beingdone. Okay, David Nevers from
(03:08):
Western and Southern, So you're runningthe ride now, I'm part of a
team that plans and executes the ride. Of course, at Western and Southern
we're very heavily involved. We commita great deal of our internal resources to
making this as successful as it canbe. In addition to the financial support
(03:30):
we provide, we uh we uh. We get our our momentum and energy
from the passion that the Barrett familyhas put towards this ride alongside Allison's family
for for the for the better partof seventeen years. Now, Western and
(03:52):
Southern we're in the business of servingpeople, our clients, our customers,
and our community and and this rideis aimed at saving lives. We're making
great strides toward a couple of keygoals, not only to provide a sustained
funding stream for cancer research, butalso to move Cincinnati closer to a National
(04:14):
Cancer Institute designated cancer care center.We're the largest city in the country without
one. We're aiming to change thatand we're making progress. We talked about
that last year, didn't we MilesWe were talking about how that was in
the pipeline. Where are we atwith that right now? We did indeed
Sandy, so we're still in theworks. There's a few factors that go
(04:36):
into obtaining the NCI designation. Oneis you have to have a dedicated and
talented group of doctors and researchers,which which you see has. You also
have to be a research hospital,and being university backed helps you see position
themselves for this NCI designation. Butthe other factors involved our financial factors and
(04:59):
communities port and that's where Ride Cincinnaticomes in. We're part of a larger
campaign that David you know, sortof alluded to, you know, aimed
at raising the money, but we'realso not only the annual giving arm,
but we kind of add that communitysupport. So you know, David,
David lightly touched on what Western Southerndoes to Ride Cincinnati, but they are
(05:20):
our title sponsor and our largest groupof writers. Uh. They're bringing you
know, two hundred people to rideCincinnati every year, and in addition to
that, they're helped generating support fromother organizations in the city. They're calling
on you know, business partners,friends, family members, and getting other
people involved. So this year we'reseeing, you know, an influx from
(05:43):
teams like Kroger. You see,has got just about every college on campus
coming in some representation. Fifth Thirdis joining as Great American has been a
long time supporter, Turner Construction allto fiber BSI engineering, triple Au,
name it. We've got representation fromcompanies all across the city, and Western
and Southern has helped helped us getthere by bridging gaps where we need it.
(06:10):
Miles. I'm not sure if you'reold enough. Alison you might be,
and David you look like you mightbe too. Remember when you used
to take a paper around the officeand say, hey, I'm right in
this ride. Will you sign up? Give me a dollar for every mile
that I go and then I'll comeback and pick it up. Those were
the days, weren't they. Now? If you don't really know anybody that's
particularly writing, you're thinking, well, how can I support the cause?
(06:33):
And your website is really interesting becauseyou've got all the teams there, and
I saw how large Western and Southern'steam was the largest one. But a
lot of these other big corporations havegood teams too. But you can actually
just put your money wherever you wantto support, maybe your favorite business.
So Allison, can you talk aboutthat for just a second. Sure,
(06:56):
you can go on our website Ricincinnatidot org and you can sign up on
a peloton, which means the samething as a team. You can sign
up as a writer and you cansend invites for people to fund you,
or you can simply fund a teamor fund a writer. It's called fund
sharing where you may not want toride, but you can support a fellow
(07:16):
writer or a fellow team simply tomake a donation and help their efforts.
So you can find your favorite businessesthere, or you can just maybe find
the one that doesn't have as muchmoney as the others and say I'm going
to help that guy right there,that one guy as raising money on his
own. The route is different thisyear. Who wants to talk about that?
(07:38):
Miles, why don't you tackle thatone? Yeah, I'd be happy
to Sandy, And just to tackonto what Alison just said, we also
have donations that go directly to ageneral fund to ride, since that a
general fund, So if you're justlooking to support and put your own name
on there, you're welcome to doit, you know. And one hundred
percent of the money that we raise, our riders raised, or that's don't
(08:00):
to the general fund, one hundredpercent is going to fund cancer research at
Bear Cancer Center. So we're pleasedto get every dollar and every dollar as
well spent. But yes, asyou said, the routes are a little
different this year. We're starting atSawyer Point. We've got five different distances
ten miles, fifteen, twenty four, thirty six, and sixty four miles.
(08:20):
They'll start down Riverside Drive, connectwith the lunk and Trail, and
then utilize the Little Miami Trail,the longest ride going out and back all
the way to King's Mill at atthe Powder Fact, the old powder factory
there. Yeah, I saw that. I got a little I got a
little out of breath just looking atthe map. You see how far you
could be. But they'll they'll startearlier in the morning, isn't that right,
(08:43):
and then get the ride and comeback and join the whole group when
everybody's everybody's done, So Saturday islike the kickoff day. Let's talk a
little bit about what happens on Saturday, especially for people who may not be
riding but want to come down andparticipate. Sure, down ahead, Elsa,
the Phelps Hotel is where we haveour kickoff party, and that's going
(09:03):
to be from five to eight,So all registered riders are invited with a
complimentary guest. It's a fabulous party. We have live music, we have
food, we have entertainment, wehave community leaders speaking and it's a kind
of a big thank you and abig let's get excited for tomorrow and then
at the ride on September seventeenth,when the riders come back, we have
(09:28):
another celebration festival. We have overfifteen food booths, we have music,
place to park your bikes, andit's just a wonderful celebration where everybody walks
around, meets the sponsors, giveseverybody a high five for actually riding twenty
five miles, ten miles, sixtythree miles, and it's just it's a
(09:50):
fun, feel good, fabulous event. It looks like the weather might be
cooperating here in the next week.What have you heard David, do you
have you your wet finger up intothe air and trying to gauge the forecast
for that weekend? So you knowwe're we're now just over a week out,
so I can I can safely throwa forecast out there with with without
(10:15):
fear of any repercussions. No snow, we got Okay, I give any
snow this year. It's high ofeighty. I check every day we have.
We have been very lucky over theyears, and I expect that luck
streak of luck to continue. Well, you've picked a good time of the
year too, because it's Uh,September is the best month pretty much when
it comes to temperatures around the TryState. So, Miles, is there
(10:39):
anything else that you want to coverhere today? For right Cincinnati, we
just want to encourage people to takea look at ride since NATI get involved,
however, you can be that asa rider, as a donor.
We have a volunteer link on ourwebsite. Uh. The work that's being
done by by our riders and oursponsors is really important. Uh, you
(11:01):
know, to those facing a cancerdiagnosis. It's important to the city to
get the CNCI designation, and we'dlove to have involvement in any way possible.
So so look at our website,rights to say dot org and sign
up for something. And David,you know, Western and Southern is such
a well known name in this town, but for people that aren't your actual
(11:22):
customers, they might wonder, well, what is Western and Southern. So
let's just do a quick spiel foryou guys. UH Life Insurance is that
correct? Life insurance, Retirement andinvestments. We're a financial services company.
We're in the business of protecting UHand and enhancing UH a family's financial future,
(11:43):
securing that future so that so thatwhat they need to sustain their lifestyle
and let them live the life theywant to live is there for for the
duration of their their lifetime. Andwho on the board of directors is the
Glenn Campbell fan. Well, we'vegot many paths, but that comes straight
(12:05):
from John Barrett. Yeah, that'sa that's a reference to the commercial that
everybody knows what the Chris collins Worthwe want. We want our customers financial
future, the security that comes withknowing they can place their trust in us.
We want that that that that peaceof mind, want their future to
(12:26):
be gentle on their mind. That'sthat's the song, so it's a nice
fit for us. It's one ofmy favorite songs. So I listened to
it every single time and you neverget tired of it. That's right,
Allison. Just to wrap up housethings with you. So what I would
like to say is I am officiallya three time breast cancer survivor and the
(12:48):
medication that I'm on right now issaving my life and it wasn't here so
so several years ago. So bydoing Rights Cincinnati and helping find cancer research,
which you are prolonging lives and savinglives. And every year there's research
that comes out that's new. Canceris at least the type that I have
(13:09):
is similar to diabetes. It canbe controlled, but they still have to
continue to manufacture medications to attack andprolonged lives and it's working. So what
Ride Sincinnati's doing is critical to thecity and to prolonging lives. And I
(13:31):
just encourage anybody to get involved,you know, do it for somebody that's
had cancer, that that you've lost, Do it for somebody like myself that's
that's living with it and surviving.I'm doing well now. It's it has
been a tough year. I mustsay, but I'm grateful to the medication
that I'm on and hopefully have anice future. And you'll be at the
(13:54):
ride. I will be at theride. Sounds good well, Miles with
all and David Nevers and Alison Gordonfrom Right Cincinnati. Thank you all for
being here today. Thank you,Thanks for the opportunities ending. Thanks Sandy
coming up in just a moment.How to avoid scams for young people more.
I heard Sincy is on the way. This is fifty five KRC,
(14:16):
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to you by the National Highway TrafficSafety Administration, Project yellow Light Noise and
the AD Council. Welcome back.This is iHeart SINCI tri State Public Affairs
(15:52):
program produced here in Cincinnati. I'myour host, Sandy Collins. My next
guest is what the Better Business Bureau. Megan O'Brien is the Outreach, engagement
and PR specialist for the Better BusinessBureau serving Southern Ohio, Northern Kentucky,
and southeast Indiana. We have lotsof questions today about scams aimed at college
age students. Okay, well,welcome Megan O'Brien. We appreciate you.
(16:17):
Taking time to be on iHeart SINCItoday. I have a daughter who's just
graduated from college, and the studentloan debacle has just been confusing and it's
on and it's off, and it'sgoing to be you know, postponed,
and it's so confusing for them andfor the parents. I understand that.
(16:41):
So there's that that you don't reallyhave anything to do with, but you
do handle people that are using thisopportunity to scam students. And I wanted
to talk to you about what weshould be watching for and what you're seeing
when it comes to scamming students,especially graduating you know, getting their college
(17:02):
loan information coming in. Let's startwith that first. Yes, absolutely millions
of Americans have student loans, Soscammers are right now trying to take advantage
of this news with the interests andpayments starting back here in October. In
fact, BB has already received multiplereports about student loan repayment scams under the
(17:26):
guise of new twenty twenty three guidelines. So typically what we're seeing is what
is being reported is you're receiving anemail, a letter, a phone call
from someone claiming you are eligible forstudent loan consolidation. Your ears perk up
and you're like, oh, youknow a payment reduction program or some similar
(17:49):
service. The scammer might say thisnew benefit is part of the twenty three
guidelines. They may even claim torepresent the fesay, So really, really
really keep an eye to that messagebecause typically you wouldn't be reached out from
the Federal student Aid at this atthis juncture right now. If you would
(18:15):
answer that call or respond to amessage, typically they'll ask you to confirm
your identity. So you know,the student loan program already has all this
information. Uh, this is justused to check your eligibility, and you
know this information might include your solcialsecurity number, your name, your address.
(18:40):
Student aid dot gov login typically hasall this information. So you're saying,
if you get somebody asking for that, there's your first red flag.
Absolutely, so you know that verifyingyour identity typically they should be providing that
to you right Well. That's thescary part is so much of our life
(19:00):
are now available online that people cansay, hey, you lived at this
address or you worked at this place, and they appear to have legitimate information
and they certainly don't. So arethere consolidation programs for the student loans or
is this all just made up?You know, I think there's just a
lot of unknowns right now. Whatwe know is is what we can report
(19:21):
on what has been coming in atthis point. You know, obviously go
to student aid dot gov and lookinto some information. Be proactive, like
between now and October first, isyour time really to be proactive, get
a plan in place, And Ido have some more tips. You know,
if your loan service or maybe mayhave changed during this pause, this
(19:41):
payment pause, research who your currentloan service or is right now. Make
sure your contact information is up todate. A lot of people have moved
addresses, locations, and you know, explore all the ways you can start
your repayment option. Typically re enrollingin a monthly auto pay program is one
(20:06):
way to avoid those myths or laypayments. A lot of people are worried
about what it's going to cost themto actually start repaying their loans. And
from what I understand, the Bidenadministration worked on reducing the amount that people
will have to pay back, andthere's some protections that are in place so
(20:29):
that you don't have to default ifyou're going to have trouble repaying your loans
to your loan services should have allof the information that you need, and
I know they do want to workwith students to get that debt paid off
accurately and with as little as penaltyas possible. I guess the good news
is there are some legitimate loan reliefprograms for borrowers, like if you were
(20:51):
a part of that requirement from theadministration the Biden Has administration. The important
thing to know is that that thisemail will say that you qualify for forgiveness
without further action on your part.So you know, there's lots of repayment
plan options that you can have newsavings on a valuable education. A save
(21:15):
plan is also an income driven paymentplan that could lower your monthly payment based
on your early income and family size. So I just got to check it
out with your with your loan servicer. What are some of these other scams
that are geared towards college students,especially going back to classes this fall.
(21:36):
Absolutely, we've seen a lot ofcredit card scams, you know, looking
for you know, those kids arelearning how to self budget, and we're
seeing some credit card credit card scamsfor the college students, apartment scams,
that's kind of tapered off a littlebit since the kids are already established in
(21:57):
their living situation. But you know, there when these kids go off to
college, they're really beginning there tomake their financial decisions. So there's just
a lot of unknown. So thatis you know, those are the two
big things we've seen, the apartmentliving situation, credit cards. My daughter
(22:18):
got caught in her freshman year,I think it was in college. She
got a virus on her computer,her laptop, and you know, was
scammed out of a couple hundred dollarsof you know, to fix to fix
the problem, and they logged intoher account and she's like, wait a
minute. She was smart enough toactually stop it before it got too bad.
And I said her, why didn'tyou call me? You know,
(22:41):
I'm the tech person. You knowthat I'm the one that's supposed to call.
And she said, Mom, Ijust wanted to do it myself,
you know. And I thought,oh, she's growing up. But she
said, I learned my lesson,you know, two hundred and fifty dollars
later. And she actually told methat was a pretty inexpensive lesson to learn
that you have to be very diligentyou know, it was nineteen at the
time, you know, so Iknow these things, these things kind of
(23:03):
happen. The too good to betrue apartments kind of hits me too,
because I realize so many people arerenting houses online, and it's not just
college students, but it's anybody whereyou're finding these amazing deals and you find
out that the person is trying tolease out something that they don't even own,
right and we've seen the property mightactually exist, it's just not that's
(23:25):
not the owner. So you know, these these are some fabulous properties that
people are finding and oh wow,this is just too good to be true.
This house is amazing. You know. We've we've definitely seen an uptick
in that as well, just withthe housing market as it is right now,
so you know, definitely reach out, go to the physical location.
(23:45):
There's a lot of great tips forthat at BBB dot org if you're looking
for an apartment renting anything like that. Also, like the same with the
credit card scams for the student collegestudents, we have a ton of tips
for college students who are you know, going out there making their own decisions
(24:07):
or financial decisions. And what we'reseeing right now is that age group is
being targeted the most, eighteen totwenty four. That's more, even more
than elderly believe it or not.So I read that in some of your
information, and it's probably easy tounderstand because isn't it true that students are
(24:29):
used to doing everything online and itjust all looks legit to them and they
don't realize whereas an older person who'safraid of the technology or doesn't like it
or doesn't want it doesn't fall forit is easily absolutely, you know.
And then also all the cash appsand everything is transactional through there, so
(24:52):
a lot of these services that thesecollege kids are and I have two college
kids myself, so I am alwaysblowing the whistle about these things with them.
And because you would think, youknow, it would be you know,
the elderly community or some other communities, but no, it's it's these
kids that are online doing everything online, looking for apartments, applying for credit
cards, shopping, ordering their groceries, you know, paying each other for
(25:18):
products and services. So yeah,there's just a lot. We can't stress
that enough, Like there's so manytips and we really want to we really
want that age group to use BBBdot org bring awareness to it so they
can go out in the world andmake smart financial decisions. It's hard to
know when it's legit, but thereare telltale signs, so go to BBB
(25:41):
dot org and get that information.Megan O'Brien, thank you for taking time
to educate us here today. Isthere anything else that you want to say
before we wrap up here? Yeah? You know, not all businesses are
created equal. You know. TheBBB raises the bar when it's standards for
trust and companies that meet those standardsexemplify honesty, integrity, excellence. And
(26:07):
you can find those businesses at BBBdot org. And remember there's a lot
of good information there on that websiteto protect yourself and your family BBB dot
org. And for our friends atRide Cincinnati, you can donate to a
team or sign up to ride onSeptember seventeenth. Go to Ride Cincinnati dot
org for all the information that youneed. Send your comments or suggestions for
this show to this email address.iHeart Cincy than i at iHeartMedia dot com
(26:32):
and be sure to check out theiHeart Cinci podcast free on the iHeartRadio app.
I'm Sandy Collins. iHeart Cincy isa production of iHeartMedia Cininnati
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