Yahoo Finance Burger King wants to help debt-laden grads pay off their student loans
Burger King (QSR) wants to help college grads pay down their student loans.
“65% of college graduates enter the world with student debt,” a Burger King spokesperson said. “BK App users can enter to win a chance at total student loan payoff.”
The initiative, titled “Whopper Loans” begins May 23 and ends on June 6, and at the end of it, Burger King will give away up to $250,000.
for real tho, we’re trying to pay off those loans. introducing Whopper Loans – make a purchase through the BK app for a chance to have your student loans paid off.
see App for details. no purch req’d.https://t.co/5XnCilnPW4 pic.twitter.com/3JKIuXdctB— Burger King (@BurgerKing) May 23, 2019
Borrowers owe more than $1.5 trillion of outstanding student debt, the highest ever in history.
With 11.5% in serious delinquency, the average borrower is struggling with thousands of dollars in student debt.
"This is a nice gesture, and the students who benefit from it are very lucky,” Climb Credit CEO Angela Ceresnie told Yahoo Finance. “Millions of other students continue to take on heavy debt loads, and we need to shift the focus toward fixing the systematic problems that created this debt in the first place. If we don't change something, we'll be perpetually stuck playing catch up like we are now.”
‘what’s ur $cashtag?’
The fast food chain had posted a cryptic tweet on Wednesday asking Twitter users:
got student loans? what's ur $cashtag?
— Burger King (@BurgerKing) May 22, 2019
This prompted an outpouring of Twitter users responding with their cashtag, which is their username for Square Cash.
$CalebSynan pay off my loans and I’ll never eat McDonald’s again
— Caleb Synan (@calebsynan) May 22, 2019
$evecoron10
if you pay off my loan I’ll actually start eating your food— 𝓔𝓿𝓮𝓵𝔂𝓷 (@evecoron10) May 23, 2019
Burger King’s website also links to student loan refinancing platform Earnest, which looks like the platform that the chain is using to help graduates repay their student loans.
Earnest is also offering a $200 bonus for Burger King customers on its website.
Aarthi is a writer for Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @aarthiswami.
Read more:
Amid student debt surge, a debate over whether $1.5T is a crisis or 'peanuts'
Elizabeth Warren unveils 'broad cancellation plan' for student debt
Dimon: U.S. student loan debt is ‘now starting to affect the economy’
'The clock is ticking' on U.S. consumer loans — and that could mean a slowdown, Deutsche Bank warns
Follow Yahoo Finance on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Flipboard, SmartNews, LinkedIn, YouTube, and reddit.
