Amazon's Follows Up Prime Day With A New Promotion: Discount Student Loans

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN)'s Prime Day event was a smashing hit, and the e-commerce giant followed up with a new promotion — discounted student loans for Student Prime members.

Wells Fargo & Co (NYSE: WFC) announced on Thursday that its Education Financial Services segment will team up with Amazon to provide Amazon Prime Student members with a discounted student loan rate of just 0.5 percent.

In a statement to Fortune, Amazon emphasized the fact that the new partnership adds further benefits to its Amazon Prime Student members.

However, at least one expert isn't overly enthusiastic about the agreement. Matthew Chingos studies student loan debt at the Urban Institute and told Fortune that Amazon-Wells Fargo partnership matters very little.

Related Link: Amazon Prime Day Recorded 50% Year-Over-Year Order Growth Across Multiple Metrics

"It's basically one lender in a market that's a very small part of the student loan pie," the student loan debt expert said. "It's a marketing thing."

Chingos expanded that while the student loan rate seems attractive, prospective debt seekers should be aware of the fine print. He added, "The discount only applies to private student loans and only to private student loans issued by Wells Fargo."

In addition, Amazon's fine print also distances itself from Wells Fargo: "Amazon is not a lender and is not affiliated with Wells Fargo. Amazon is in no way involved in the underwriting or origination of loans from Wells Fargo."

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