Posted on 07/23/2016 10:08:07 AM PDT by Lorianne
On the off chance the US didn't already have a big enough problem thanks to a staggering $1.3 trillion in student loans which contrary to White House' claims, are crushing an entire generation under their interest expense weight, earlier today none other than billionaire Jeff Bezos announced he was entering the student loan business, when Amazon unveiled a partnership with Wells Fargo in which the bank’s student-lending arm would offer interest-rate discounts to select Amazon shoppers.
In Amazon's latest attempt to entice shoppers into its premium Prime program, Wells Fargo will cut half a percentage point from its interest rate on student loans to Amazon customers who pay for a "Prime Student" subscription, which provides the traditional Prime benefits such as free two-day shipping and access to movies, television shows and photo storage. The subscription-based service will cost $49 a year, half the regular Amazon Prime fee.
Wells Fargo, Buffet's favorite US bank, will benefit by expanding the size of its student loan portfolio.
WSJ adds that Wells Fargo and Amazon have been in discussions for more than a year about the partnership, which is set to be announced and made available Thursday. As the WSJ muses, "the discount could be used to encourage more students to sign up for the Prime service." Incidentally, this is precisely what the offer is all about: to get a sticky annuity in the form of student borrowers who have to pay not only the student loan interest, but also an annual fee to Amazon.
(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...
These kids are borrowing money anyhow - the difference offered here is a break on the interest rate. That’s a GOOD thing...
These students have a choice, they always have a choice. They could be going to low cost colleges or learn a trade and travel the world using their skills, but they prefer to go to a high price university and take four years to learn something that shouldn’t even take two years (journalism). No one forces a student to apply to a posh university when a state school would do just as well.
If you got a 6 figure salary from a degree ... it wouldn’t be a scam.
The people getting the six figures are the professors. The “gender studies” STUDENTS are getting the shaft.
I’d like there to be a limit as to how much can be borrowed until the student is required to pay at least half of it back before being enabled to get additional loans.
all the mass media hype about ‘crushing student debt’ is BS
designed to soften us up so we few remaining workers will agree to paying off the deadbeats’ loans
I had several student loans. I paid them all off and I was glad to have received them, too. Damned glad!
and yes, it delayed my purchasing some other stuff. so what? that’s both natural and unavoidable when you sign up for loans. there is no rule in life that says you can expect to just shuck your debts onto the backs of others to repay! and there is no rule saying you are entitled to renounce your promises to repay monies others entrusted to you....and just run out and buy yourself a new Corvette or even a new house.....instead. You pay your debts as promised and you buy more stuff you want in life as soon as you can afford those things ... not until.
Obviously he expects to get money when the government pays off those loans for the students.
The problem is that the federal government is putting the students and parents on the hook for student debt.
Lend to the college, not the students.
The government should put colleges on the hook for the debt and then take a percentage of the graduates’ income (as per graduate/college contract) to apply against the colleges’ debt to the federal government (5% for a two-year degree, 5% more (10%) for a four-year degree, 3% more (13% for a masters degree), 7% more for a doctoral degree (20%) for six years plus the total number of college years normally needed to earn the degree, with crediting done with the first college attended getting its percentage paid first and only for the period its degree calls for repayment.
On average college is a good investment, but individually investment in college is very risky. Spread the risk as is done with health insurance.
“Student loans can be worthwhile if used to get a Bachelor’s degree in a high-paying field like engineering.”
US employers generally prefer foreign engineers under H-1B visas.
Engineers generally have to live in high-priced areas.
The only degrees worth paying much for are those required by government - say for nurses, doctors, public school teachers, lawyers, etc.
Only for those occupations is debt above $5,000/year justified.
Well, if it’s private, must there be a limit? It seems to me the lender can take the risks he wants, and the borrower as well.
I doubt too many fluffy degrees would be underwritten.
Bullcrap. I worked my way through college (the first time) as a skip tracer for a state student loan agency in the 90s. Yes, there were those looking for a free ride and trying to scam us, but there were many more who were working and still having a hard time of things, with a medium-to-high-five-figures worth of debt, interest and payments hanging over their heads. And we were just starting to see the six-figure debtors becoming a reality.
I’m not for student loan forgiveness (as I reminded my classmates and profs, that simply translates into lump-sum taxable income to the IRS)...I say remove most if not all of the government loan guarantees, and make it dischargeable in bankruptcy with specified and tight conditions. It’ll shrink the pool of available money (due to the elimination of “moral hazard” via loan guarantees) but it will drag tuition costs down as well over time.
Yes. Understood. I worked several jobs to help pay my way thru college but did still need to borrow ( expensive school and well worth it - unlike many of them now). I’ve never regretted the student debt and I was glad they lent me the money and I paid it all back
Hillary is “promising” to forgive student loans, so the timing of this might not fly.
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