Strange Amazon Partnership Is Providing Students with Discounted Student Loans

When you think of Amazon, you probably think of online shopping, video streaming and two-day free shipping. You probably don’t think of student loans.

Well, Amazon is trying to change that.

The online shopping giant is now partnering with Wells Fargo to offer student loans to Prime Student members at discounted interest rates, according to Engadget.

The partnership comes with a 0.50 percent discount on student loan interest rates applied for through the program.

So if you’re using Wells Fargo for your student loans, you can take advantage of this new partnership to apply for new loans, or to refinance loans you already have.

The deal requires an Amazon Prime Student account, which costs $49 a year and includes its characteristics two-day free shipping, along with other benefits such as free video streaming and photo storage.

Note that students must have their own Prime Student account. The discount won’t be applied to other Prime accounts — so no riding on your parents’ Prime membership.

John Rasmussen, Wells Fargo’s head of personal lending, told Reuters that the partnership is a way for the bank to increase awareness of its products and services.

For their part of the deal, Rasmussen said Amazon wants more students to sign up for its Prime membership.

In addition to the 0.50 percent interest rate reduction, Wells Fargo currently offers a .25 percent discount for students who enroll for automatic monthly payments, according to TechCrunch.

Amazon Prime Student is currently being sponsored by Sprint in a promotion that makes the membership free for the first six months, TechCrunch reported.