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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. The third largest U.S. bank by assets and the second-largest private student lender by origination volume, is interested in "meeting our customers where they are – and increasingly that is in the digital space," John Rasmussen, head of Wells Fargo's Personal Lending Group, said in a news release. The bank had $12.2 billion in student loans outstanding at the end of 2015, compared with $11.9 billion at the end of 2014.
[...] According to the details of the agreement, the companies aren't compensating each other for what Wells Fargo describes as a multiyear agreement that will reach millions of potential borrowers. The Amazon spokeswoman said Wells Fargo is currently the only student lender that will provide loan offers to Prime Student members.
Source: ZeroHedge
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Friday July 22 2016, @04:58PM
I don't see how borrowing from multiple lenders makes one "their property" any less than borrowing from a single lender. I can see how, if a student takes out a new loan each year, it could be worthwhile to shop around for the best offer available each time, so that the borrower could have multiple creditors. If one pays off one's debt, it's more convenient to pay a single bill. If one doesn't pay off one's debt, I'm unsure there's an advantage to dealing with multiple lenders rather than one.
With regard to amazon.com, providing one's personal information to them and giving them $49 may be distasteful, but it doesn't amount to becoming their property. I stopped reading at "To Read the Full Story, Subscribe or Sign In" so I'm unsure whether one must maintain a current subscription with amazon.com in order to maintain the discounted interest rate.
I wonder what information the bank provides to amazon.com about a borrower. Banks tend to ask for more personal information than retailers do.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 22 2016, @05:46PM
I stopped reading at "To Read the Full Story, Subscribe or Sign In"
And despite that, your eyeballs will be sold to the highest bidder. Soon, it will be your physical eyeballs because you'll have been pushed into poverty so much that that is your only recourse left.
I wonder what information the bank provides to amazon.com about a borrower. Banks tend to ask for more personal information than retailers do.
THIS, a hundred times this... This will give Amazon direct access to all your financials...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 22 2016, @05:52PM
I wonder what information the bank provides to amazon.com about a borrower. Banks tend to ask for more personal information than retailers do.
THIS, a hundred times this... This will give Amazon direct access to all your financials...
Forgot to add: and vice versa: banks are actually incredibly eager to learn about your exact shopping behavior because it is a great precursor to and more real-time indicator of your financial situation: buying lots of cheap things that are associated with others not doing so well? Chances are you're not doing well, so DING, let's lower your credit score. Don't thank us, it's a service we provide
Or maybe you are buying lots of disposables and trinkets? Maybe you're making enough money and we should now keep haranguing you about getting yet another credit card (and when that doesn't work, sell your contact info to AmEx so they can pull the same shit).
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Friday July 22 2016, @06:21PM
Of course not! They're just doing it to provide relief to the Students Loan Crisis and help their fellow Americans.
Why would we see nefarious intent and profit-seeking, when all are aware that Americans are the most charitable people in the world?
Now, can anyone tell me where I can buy Student-Loans-based CDS ?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 22 2016, @06:16PM
All of that is on correct and on point, but the real problem is the idea of using student loans in any more than a tiny number of cases. There is nothing so special about a college education that it should cost more than a student can pay for by working a part time, low wage job. The existence of student loans is causing tuition to rise at a much higher rate than inflation.
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Friday July 22 2016, @07:06PM
I found Wells Fargo's page regarding the offer. It says
--https://welcome.wf.com/amazonstudent/ [wf.com]
I would assume that someone who's left school would not be eligible for an Amazon Prime Student subscription. It looks to me as though one doesn't have to maintain the subscription in order to retain the discounted interest rate.