Making Cents of Money

About Making Cents of Money

Podcast by Making Cents of Money

Publisher

Making Cents of Money

Category

education

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

31 Aug 2020

Latest episode

17 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

1 of 132 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   17 Sept 2026

   Episode 132: Avoid Student Loan Scams: How Enforcement Actions Help Borrowers

   Press Release: https://idfpr.illinois.gov/news/2026/idfpr---idfpr-takes-action-against-unlicensed-student-loan-debt-.html Please note: under the Debt Settlement Consumer Protection Act, entities providing debt settlement services in Illinois generally must be licensed by IDFPR, subject to certain statutory exemptions, including for attorneys, banks, and institutions of higher education, among others. Show Notes: Resources for checking licenses and reporting scams • IDFPR license lookup: https://idfpr.illinois.gov/checklicense.html • Illinois Attorney General Student Loan Helpline: https://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/consumer-protection/student-loan-debt-assistance/ • Illinois Secretary of State's Business Entity Search: https://apps.ilsos.gov/businessentitysearch/ • Federal Trade Commission's Fraud Report Portal: https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/ References • Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. (n.d.-a). Student loan servicers. https://idfpr.illinois.gov/banks/student-loan-servicers.html • Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. (n.d.-b). Consumer credit. https://idfpr.illinois.gov/dfi/ccd/ccd-main.html • Illinois Administrative Code, tit. 38, § 145.5 (2023). Purpose and definitions, Debt Settlement Consumer Protection Act rules. https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/illinois/IL-Admin-Code-38-145-5 • Illinois Attorney General's Office. (2026). Student lending. https://www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov/consumer-protection/student-loan-debt-assistance/ • Know Before You Owe Private Education Loan Act, 110 Ill. Comp. Stat. 983, as amended by Public Act 104-0504 (2025). https://ilga.gov/Legislation/PublicActs/View/104-0504 • Consumer Finance Monitor. (2022, July 27). Illinois provides guides and templates for Know Before You Owe Private Education Loan Act reporting requirements. Ballard Spahr LLP. https://www.consumerfinancemonitor.com/2022/07/27/illinois-provides-guides-and-templates-for-know-before-you-owe-private-education-loan-act-reporting-requirements/ • Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP. (2021, August 26). Student lending: Illinois enacts 'Know Before You Owe' law. https://www.manatt.com/insights/newsletters/financial-services-law/student-lending-illinois-enacts-know-before-you-o • Federal Trade Commission. (2023, June 14). FTC sends more than $3.3 million to consumers harmed by student loan debt relief scam [Press release]. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/06/ftc-sends-more-33-million-consumers-harmed-student-loan-debt-relief-scam • Federal Student Aid. (n.d.). How to avoid student loan forgiveness scams. U.S. Department of Education. https://studentaid.gov/articles/avoid-student-loan-forgiveness-scams/ • Young, J. R. (2026, April 30). Fake student loan debt offers proliferate as federal government rolls back enforcement. The Hechinger Report. https://hechingerreport.org/fake-student-loan-debt-offers-proliferate-as-federal-government-rolls-back-enforcement/

2. 

   4 Sept 2026

   Episode 131: How App Design Shapes Financial Behavior and Why it Works, Part 3: Know the Game

   Show Notes: Chaudhry, S., & Kulkarni, C. (2021). Design patterns of investing apps and their effects on investing behaviors. In Proceedings of the 2021 ACM Designing Interactive Systems Conference (DIS '21) (pp. 777–788). https://doi.org/10.1145/3461778.3462008 Dickinson, D. (2026). Dark patterns and consumer protection law for app makers. Consumer Law Review. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/400702824_Dark_Patterns_and_Consumer_Protection_Law_for_App_Makers Farronato, C., Fong, J., & Larkin, I. (2025). Designing consent: Choice architecture and consumer welfare. Management Science. https://doi.org/10.1145/3736252.3742627 International Organization of Securities Commissions. (2023). Online choice architecture: How digital design is used to influence investors (IOSCO PD794). https://www.iosco.org/news/pdf/IOSCONEWS688.pdf Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, fast and slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Lai, L. (2024). Playful finance: Gamification and intermediation in fintech. Journal of Financial Regulation, 10(1), 1–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfr.2023.100174 Lusardi, A., & Mitchell, O. S. (2014). The economic importance of financial literacy: Theory and evidence. Journal of Economic Literature, 52(1), 5–44. https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.52.1.5 Madrian, B. C., & Shea, D. F. (2001). The power of suggestion: Inertia in 401(k) participation and savings behavior. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 116(4), 1149–1187. https://doi.org/10.1162/003355301753265543 Mathur, A., Mayer, J., & Kshirsagar, M. (2019). Dark patterns at scale: Findings from a crawl of 11K shopping websites. Proceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction, 3(CSCW), 1–32. https://doi.org/10.1145/3359183 Rakovic, M., & Inal, Y. (2023). Dark finance: Exploring deceptive design in investment apps. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 170, Article 102944. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2022.102944 UK Financial Conduct Authority. (2024, July). Review of online choice architecture and vulnerability [Regulatory discussion paper]. https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/policy/publications/review-of-online-choice-architecture-and-vulnerability/ Savitha, B., & Hawaldar, I. T. (2022). What motivates individuals to use FinTech budgeting applications? Evidence from India during the COVID-19 pandemic. Cogent Economics & Finance, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23322039.2022.2127482 Thaler, R. H. (2015). Misbehaving: The making of behavioral economics. W. W. Norton & Company. Thaler, R. H., & Sunstein, C. R. (2008). Nudge: Improving decisions about health, wealth, and happiness. Yale University Press. Veigas, P. (2023). A comprehensive analysis of the user experience in digital platforms concerning the practice of nudging user behaviour. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 104, Article 101986. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2023.101986 Report a Dark Pattern with the FDIC: https://reportfraud.ftc.gov/

3. 

   28 Jul 2026

   Episode 130: How App Design Shapes Financial Behavior & Why it Works - Part 2, Designed to Spend

   Show notes: - SMMC Investing Web Page: https://www.studentmoney.uillinois.edu/learn/investing - Get Savvy Webinars on Investing: o Investing 101 – Wealth Building Basics: https://youtu.be/o2SNtTE2ZC4 o Investing 102 – Risks & Rewards: https://youtu.be/TCcp5qdsnGk?si=JW5LSxqkDkaCe9KB - SMMC Blog Posts: o Want to Start Investing? Read This First: https://blogs.uofi.uillinois.edu/view/7550/2032887516 o Stocks vs. Crypto: https://blogs.uofi.uillinois.edu/view/7550/1168754267 o Ready to Invest? Here’s How to Actually Get Started: https://blogs.uofi.uillinois.edu/view/7550/1951795281

Inside a recent episode

Episode 11: Saving for College with a 529 Savings Plan

Published 10 Feb 2021 · Transcript excerpt

[…] That is the number calculated via the process of filling out the FAFSA application every year. So if financial aid grants are a little over 11 ,000 but sometimes tuition is north of that, what does that really mean? It means that students and their families are left with a gap having to figure out how they are going to finance that gap. And just by comparison, I think it is important to know that in the 1970s the PEL and the map grants covered close to or grants of this nature covered about 75 % of college costs. Whereas by 2014 that amount or that percentage dropped to 33 % or below 33%. And so over the years families have been challenged on how they're going to finance that financial aid gap. […]

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Apple Podcasts (US)

4.9 / 5

11 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

1 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 52 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

69

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

85

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