In addition to the free two-day shipping, Amazon Prime is now offering discounts on student loans.
Wells Fargo bank and Amazon announced a partnership on Thursday that will make millions of students eligible for a 0.5% discount on their student loan interest rates by subscribing to Amazon’s “Prime Student” membership. Students will be able to use the service to take out loans, as well as refinance existing loans.
Just like Amazon’s popular Prime membership, Student Prime gives college students free two-day shipping on many Amazon items, along with streaming of movies, TV shows, and music. The subscription service is $49 per year (half the price of the regular Prime membership).
John Rasmussen, Well’s Fargo’s head of Personal Lending Group estimated the program will reach “millions” of students. The bank is one of the largest private student lenders in the U.S., with $12.2 billion in outstanding student loans at the end of 2015.
According to BBC News, interest rates for Wells Fargo student loans can be anywhere between 3.39% and 9.03% for variable-rate loans, and from 5.94% to 10.93% for fixed loans.
The companies are not compensating each other for the agreement, however, the new partnership will be mutually beneficial for Amazon and Wells Fargo – Amazon can use it as a marketing tool to obtain more Prime Student subscribers, and it may give Wells Fargo a competitive advantage among other private lenders, while also promoting the bank’s message that it’s “here to help students and families pay for college.”
“We are focused on innovation and meeting our customers where they are – and increasingly that is in the digital space,” Rasmussen said in a statement announcing the new the partnership. “This is a tremendous opportunity to bring together two great brands. At Amazon and Wells Fargo, delivering exceptional customer service and helping customers are at the center of everything we do.”
The discount only applies to students who take out private loans through Wells Fargo, and does not help the much larger pool of students who take out loans through the federal government.
