But no, do not go and get a credit card to pay off student loan debt. Vultures … all of 'em!
To combat the ever growing frustration of trying to figure out how, why and when prior students are going to manage debilitating student loan debt, our crafty neighbors up north are employing a tactic to somewhat relieve broke graduates from the burden of unaffordable payments to lenders.
Toronto-based HigherEdPoints — in partnership with Air Canada’s loyalty program, AeroPlan — is allowing cardholders to take frequent flyer miles and turn them into certificates redeemable for college tuition.
To receive a certificate equivalent to $250 in the states, a member must redeem 35,000 miles. Rewards can be donated to others, as Bloomberg Business points out, which seems to be the only way a program like this makes any sense …
Because to get a phat stack of frequent flyer miles … doesn’t one have to spend a metric ton of money … with interest … on a credit card … anyways? Is the logic clear to anyone else and it's just escaping our thoughts right now, or are we on to something? It just doesn’t make any sense …
Says Laura Colby for Bloomberg Business:
“… the amount of credit that HigherEdPoints offers per mile—about C0.7¢—is low, compared to what's available to consumers through some U.S. programs, says Brian Kelly, chief executive officer of ThePointsGuy.com, a website that tracks rewards programs. Kelly says U.S. consumers who want to pay off their college debt might be better off getting a cash-back credit card, some of which have refunds that can run as high as 2¢ per mile, and putting that money toward college. ‘At the end of the day,’ he says, ‘cash is king.’”
It’s understandable a company would like to capitalize on a growing trend of a younger generation being choked into poverty with egregious amounts of IOUs piling up — but wouldn’t they be better off if the airline offered some sort of “student discount” or “wage dependent ticket price” if the airline actually cared about lightening the load for those in a bad financial situation?
It looks good on paper (and online), but what in the actual hell?
No, do not go and get a credit card to pay off student loan debt. Vultures … all of 'em! Or you know, you can always try your hand at slots. Click here to play free slots.
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