{"id":2549,"date":"2016-08-08T21:00:38","date_gmt":"2016-08-09T01:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.irasmithinc.com\/blog\/?p=2549"},"modified":"2016-09-04T22:49:39","modified_gmt":"2016-09-05T02:49:39","slug":"student-debt-counselling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irasmithinc.com\/blog\/student-debt-counselling\/","title":{"rendered":"STUDENT DEBT COUNSELLING: ARE WE DOING ENOUGH TO REDUCE THE COST OF STUDENT LOANS?"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2 id='amazon-prime-getting-into-the-us-student-loan-business-but-not-student-debt-counselling'  id=\"boomdevs_1\"><a href=\"http:\/\/torontobankruptcy.g-t-t.net.\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-2550 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.irasmithinc.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/student_debt_counselling.jpg\" alt=\"canada student loan, student loans, student loan debt, Amazon, Amazon Prime, Amazon Prime Student, student loan repayment, discounted student loans, marie brunner, student debt, student debt counselling, the impact of student debt, Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (TV Program), John Oliver (TV Writer), HBO (TV Network), last week tonight, john oliver, hbo, student debt, student loans, for profit colleges, itt tech, student loan debt canada, student loan debt consolidation, student loan debt statistics, student loan debt crisis, student loan debt forgiveness, student loan debt reduction, student loan debt relief, student loan debt stories\" width=\"960\" height=\"540\" title=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/irasmithinc.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/student_debt_counselling.jpg 960w, https:\/\/irasmithinc.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/student_debt_counselling-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/irasmithinc.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/student_debt_counselling-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/irasmithinc.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/student_debt_counselling-500x281.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a>Amazon Prime getting into the US student loan business but not student debt counselling<\/h2>\n<p>As you will see from this blog, there is a huge need for student debt counselling, as new entrants into the student loan business are enticing students with new offers.\u00a0 The financial services industry in the United States is changing rapidly with many non-traditional companies getting into the game. The latest is Amazon Prime. They\u2019re now offering discounted student loans to Amazon Prime Student customers through a partnership with Wells Fargo.<\/p>\n<p>Although this type of program is now only available in the U.S., and while we typically discuss things that affect Canadians, we felt that anything that could cut the cost of a student loan was worth reporting.\u00a0 However, keep in mind that this does nothing for student debt counselling so that students are better able to handle debt.\u00a0 It is merely a financial opportunity with little risk as further described below.<\/p>\n<h2 id='our-previous-student-debt-counselling-and-student-loans-blogs-and-vlogs'  id=\"boomdevs_2\">Our previous student debt counselling and student loans blogs and vlogs<\/h2>\n<p>Student loan debt is such a serious issue that we\u2019ve written a series of blogs and vlogs on the subject.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.irasmithinc.com\/blog\/average-student-loan-debt\/\">VIDEO: DREAM CRUSHING AVERAGE STUDENT LOAN DEBT: REASONS WHY WE PITY YOU<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.irasmithinc.com\/blog\/student-loan-debt-does-it-affect-the-economy\/\">STUDENT LOAN DEBT, DOES IT AFFECT THE ECONOMY? <\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.irasmithinc.com\/blog\/student-loans-debt-bankruptcy\/\">STUDENT LOANS DEBT: WILL BANKRUPTCY ELIMINATE IT IF YOU ARE NOT THE STUDENT? <\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.irasmithinc.com\/blog\/student-debt-bankruptcy-avoid-bankruptcy\/\">STUDENT DEBT BANKRUPTCY: NEW SECRET TACTIC TO AVOID BANKRUPTCY<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.irasmithinc.com\/blog\/canadian-parents-paying-student-loans\/\">CANADIAN PARENTS PAYING STUDENT LOANS<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.irasmithinc.com\/blog\/parents-paying-student-loans-should-you-borrow-for-your-childs-post-secondary-education\/\">PARENTS PAYING STUDENT LOANS: SHOULD YOU BORROW FOR YOUR CHILD\u2019S POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.irasmithinc.com\/blog\/canada-student-loan-repayment-can-cant-repay\/\">CANADA STUDENT LOAN REPAYMENT: WHAT CAN YOU DO IF YOU CAN\u2019T REPAY?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 id='canadian-federation-of-students-study'  id=\"boomdevs_3\">Canadian Federation of Students study<\/h2>\n<p>According to the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), the impact of Canada student loan debt is that today\u2019s students are the most indebted generation in Canadian history. They can certainly use student debt counselling.<\/p>\n<p>The average student graduates with over $28,000 of debt. Tuition fees and living costs continue to rise, and there\u2019s no solution in sight. The CFS has been lobbying the federal government for students, to no avail. And it\u2019s not better south of the border where tuitions and the student loan debt is proportionally greater.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps CFS should also lobby the provincial governments to include student debt counselling as a mandatory grade 12 subject in high school!<\/p>\n<h2 id='is-student-debt-counselling-being-offered-to-amazon-prime-student-customers'  id=\"boomdevs_4\">Is Student Debt Counselling Being Offered to Amazon Prime Student customers?<\/h2>\n<p>Through the partnership, Wells Fargo is not offering any student debt counselling, but is offering student loans Amazon Prime Student Customers (not students whose parents have a Prime membership of their own):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A 0.50%\u00a0interest rate discount<\/li>\n<li>This can be added on top of\u00a0a 0.25% interest rate reduction for enrolling in an automatic monthly loan repayment plan<\/li>\n<li>In addition, any interest rate discount tied to another Wells Fargo global promotion<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Students can apply for a new student loan or refinance existing student loans.<\/p>\n<h2 id='why-would-amazon-prime-want-to-get-into-the-student-loan-business'  id=\"boomdevs_5\">Why would Amazon Prime want to get into the student loan business<\/h2>\n<p>Of course this partnership benefits Amazon and Wells Fargo financially.\u00a0 However, it does not give any education to college students through student debt counselling. Amazon Prime will no doubt have many more sign ups and Wells Fargo will have access to many more potential borrowers. But the bottom line is that the student will benefit by having access to discounted student loans. Hopefully someone in Canada will also find a way to help lighten the student loan debt load.<\/p>\n<p>However, there is even a greater reason.\u00a0 In Canada, a bankruptcy discharge will only end student loans if you&#8217;ve ceased to be a full or part-time student for more than seven years and either <a href=\"http:\/\/irasmithinc.com\/bankruptcy_services-personal_the-bankruptcy-process.html\">declare personal bankruptcy<\/a> or make a debt proposal to your creditors, most likely through a <a href=\"http:\/\/irasmithinc.com\/bankruptcy_services-personal_consumer-proposal.html\">consumer proposal<\/a>.<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>The only other option is to attempt to seek from the Court relief because of undue hardship, but this is very difficult, if not impossible.<\/p>\n<p>If you think it is difficult under Canadian law to end student loans, it really is impossible under the US Bankruptcy Code.\u00a0 The leading case in the US, which subsequent decisions have followed, is, <em>Marie Brunner v. New York State Higher Education Services Corp.<\/em> (October 14, 1987, #41, Docket 87-5013).\u00a0 This case set a precedent for defining the concept &#8220;undue hardship&#8221; in bankruptcy discharges of student loans.<\/p>\n<p>Suffice to say that if a bankrupt in the US is seeking a discharge of all of his or her debts, including student loan debt, the mere fact that they can afford to hire and pay an attorney can be used as evidence that if they have funds to pay legal counsel, then there is no undue hardship for them to agree to a repayment plan on account of the student loan debt after they get their discharge from bankruptcy and their non-student loan debts.<\/p>\n<p>Since the debt will in almost every case always be owing and payable, it is a safe bet for Amazon Prime.<\/p>\n<h2 id='are-you-in-need-of-student-debt-counselling-or-credit-counselling'  id=\"boomdevs_6\">Are you in need of student debt counselling or credit counselling?<\/h2>\n<p>No matter the cause of your serious debt issues, <a href=\"http:\/\/irasmithinc.com\/index.html\">The Ira Smith Team<\/a> is here to help. Debt is not insurmountable; there are always <a href=\"http:\/\/irasmithinc.com\/bankruptcy_services-personal_bankruptcy-alternatives.html\">options<\/a>. With proper counselling, immediate action and a solid plan, we can help get your life back on track <a href=\"http:\/\/www.irasmithinc.com\/index.html\">Starting Over, Starting Now<\/a>. Our trustees are also certified in credit counselling.\u00a0 Give us a <a href=\"http:\/\/irasmithinc.com\/contact_us.html\">call<\/a> today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Amazon Prime getting into the US student loan business but not student debt counselling As you will see from this blog, there is a huge need for student debt counselling, as new entrants into the student loan business are enticing students with new offers.\u00a0 The financial services industry in the United States is changing rapidly [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1201,1202,1207,1204,863,1205,133,162,1206,389,1203,388,925],"class_list":["post-2549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-brandon-blog-post","tag-amazon-prime","tag-amazon-prime-student","tag-canada-student-loan","tag-discounted-student-loans","tag-ira-smith-trustee","tag-marie-brunner","tag-starting-over-starting-now","tag-student-debt","tag-student-debt-counselling","tag-student-loan-debt","tag-student-loan-repayment","tag-student-loans","tag-the-impact-of-student-debt"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/irasmithinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/irasmithinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/irasmithinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irasmithinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irasmithinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2549"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/irasmithinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2556,"href":"https:\/\/irasmithinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2549\/revisions\/2556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/irasmithinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irasmithinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irasmithinc.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}