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 banks 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 ...
Bezos wants his share of the college debt slaves.
Will mortgages and car loans be next?
He must have money to burn.
Scum. Tempting poor young people to get into debt for some useless basket weaving degree.
Sadly I do enjoy Amazon prime. But this is a greedy, nasty move.
mygosh, Bezos will own the students for life before they even set foot into their first Freshman class.
Yes, student loans and compulsive Amazon Prime shopping, what could go wrong?!
Bezos is just doing it out of the goodness of his heart to help college kids...
Pay up or have a drone come after you.
I hardly use a CC any more and will probably get rid of the one I have at the rate things are going.
I buy a lot of Amazon but I usually get gift cards in whatever amount at the grocery store offering fuel perks. Sometimes those fuel perks have been wonderful. Ethanol free isn’t cheap. My old stuff runs better on it when any of it runs.
Mike Rowe nailed the student loan crisis. Said all its doing is subsidizing worthless degrees, making the education establishment richer, and putting kids in debt.
Colleges have become a scam anyway, just a mechanism so women’s study and gender majors can get 6 figure salaries.
student loans = 2016 version of Indenture Servant
Another day dumber and deeper in debt.
Next Bezos will offer all the gender studies students non-paying jobs at the Washington Post.
lol, hadn’t thought of that.
If you got a 6 figure salary from a degree ... it wouldn’t be a scam.
That isn’t the case anymore for many people. It might get you a job but not necessarily a good job.
I charge everything on my CC, and use the points to shop on Amazon. I’ve gotten lots of useful items at no direct cost to me.
Wow, Amazon customers for LIFE!
I’d love to see student loans returned to the private sector.
To offset their debt, Amazon will raise prices across the board shafting its other customers.
I didn’t owe a dime the day I received a diploma so I’ll be danged if I’m on the hook for someone else’s debt.
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