Amazon Prime members can now get a discount on student loans from Wells Fargo
Amazon and Wells Fargo announced Thursday a partnership that will offer Amazon Prime Student members a discount on private student loans taken out through Wells Fargo Education Financial Services, the bank's student lending arm.
Prime members are eligible for a 0.50% discount on Wells Fargo-issued loans. Prime members are also eligible for an additional 0.25% discount for enrolling in automatic monthly repayments.
Amazon Prime is the workhorse of Amazon's retail business, and this move is clearly aimed at indoctrinating future members from a young age. Amazon's Prime Student memberships are already 50% off the regular membership, though of course you're incentivized to remain a member after graduation if this is tied to the rate on student loans.
A report from earlier this summer indicated that 52% of all Amazon customers in the US are prime members. These 63 million Prime members also spend more than double the amount annually - $1,200 vs $500 - that non-Prime members spend on the site.
In his annual letters to shareholders, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos describes Prime (and Amazon's other business units) as a "flywheel," or a wheel that can be pushed on at any point to accelerate its rotation.
In the latest edition, Bezos wrote that Amazon wants Prime to be such a good value, "you'd be irresponsible not to be a member."
So whether that means offering more items via same-day Prime Now delivery, or more good shows on Prime Video, or a discount on student loans via a partnership with the US' biggest bank, Amazon has found another way to grease that wheel a little more.