Grad pays off $114G student loan with bag of cash

[Hum]

Last week, a Reddit user posted a photo of a $114,000 student loan bill-paid in cash-that elicited thousands of comments and dozens more when it was posted by Business Insider.

Since then, the anonymous alum has stepped forward as Alex Kenjeev, a 2009 law school graduate of the University of Toronto.

Kenjeev, who works for venture capitalist firm O'Leary Ventures, told Business Insider the $114,000 payment was the last chunk left of $190,000 in loans he took out during school. He'd spent years dragging out his payments while pouring most of his income into a start-up. As for why he paid in cash, Kenjeev said he wasn't proving some point about the dangers of credit cards or trying to show off. He just thought it'd be really funny.

"It was stressful enough to carry such a big debt load. I thought it would be worth getting a few laughs out of it," he said. "Neither bank thought it was as funny as I thought it was."

In fact, when Kenjeev showed up at the Royal Bank of Canada to withdraw the cash, the management initially refused him. Then they told him he'd have to pay a transport fee to have it delivered by armored truck.

With the money stuffed into a canvas bag, he walked the two blocks over to Scotiabank, where his student loan was held. "I just plopped the bag down (on the counter)," he said. "They also didn't know how to handle it. At first the manager didn't want to accept the money."

While Kenjeev waited, calls to higher-ups were made, his RBC withdrawal slip was reviewed, and tellers went to work counting the bills by hand.

"I was pretty naive," Kenjeev admitted. "I didn't really realize how much of a hassle I'd cause for everybody. You just look at things and you figure cash is simpler than anything else."

When all was said and done, he shook hands with the bank manager and walked out two-and-a-half hours later-completely debt-free.

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[Azies]

Damn good move, now that's the way to pay off debt. Does it state anywhere how he actually got that much money all together?

[Hum]

^ He apparently made money from his start-up business.

[ambiance]

Only an ******* would want to draw that much attention to themselves. Making it as difficult as possible is just a bonus.

[jmc15john]

Epin win. Although it would have been an epic fail if he didn't get a job and had over 100G of loans.

[SharpGreen]

It doesn't really matter how "inconvenient" it is. It's their job (the folks at the bank where his loan was) to take his money and do what he asked with it.

[mokthraka]

Epin win. Although it would have been an epic fail if he didn't get a job and had over 100G of loans.

its 2012. there are a lot of new lawyers that have trouble finding a job.

[mudslag]

In the words of South Park, the Simpsons did Rddit posted it first, a week ago

:D

[Japlabot]

And he still got slugged a 30 cent payment fee, never mind all the interest the bank has earned on the loan.

[Matt B]

Gotta love a bank struggling to deal with cash

[Phantom Spaceman]

[Xtreme2damax]

Pays of loan like a baws.

Wish I could do the same.

[Titoist]

WOW! Good for him.

Now here is a question for him. WTF did you do to owe over $100G????

The only way he could owe that much is if he didn't even bother with a student job during his schooling. I am also amazed that a bank would loan him that much. I had a 1-month struggle to get a $5000 student loan and I had perfect credit!

If people say "he started up his own business".... that sir/maam, is NOT a student loan. That is a business loan and the government gives $15,000-$50,000 grant for people starting a business.

[Rudy]

Pretty funny video....can't believe I watched the whole thing. I'm pretty sure in Canada after a certain amount they're allowed to require the coins to be rolled

[mokthraka]

Pretty funny video....can't believe I watched the whole thing. I'm pretty sure in Canada after a certain amount they're allowed to require the coins to be rolled

they can tell you to **** off here.

[mokthraka]

WOW! Good for him.

Now here is a question for him. WTF did you do to owe over $100G????

The only way he could owe that much is if he didn't even bother with a student job during his schooling. I am also amazed that a bank would loan him that much. I had a 1-month struggle to get a $5000 student loan and I had perfect credit!

If people say "he started up his own business".... that sir/maam, is NOT a student loan. That is a business loan and the government gives $15,000-$50,000 grant for people starting a business.

it clearly states law school. he started a business, that is how he paid off his loan. anyways $100,000 isnt that much.

if I go to the Med school I want to go to, it costs $50,000 a year. $200,000 total

[Arkaic]

it clearly states law school. he started a business, that is how he paid off his loan. anyways $100,000 isnt that much.

if I go to the Med school I want to go to, it costs $50,000 a year. $200,000 total

near me it's rated as $50,000 per semester or 100,000 a year times four. euqalling 400,000+ undergrad forget the little pay you get after getting the M.D.

so 450G to 500G for a med education yea 200G is decent.

[Ently]

^ He apparently made money from his start-up business.

drugs >.> .... <.<.......>.>......<.<....

[mokthraka]

near me it's rated as $50,000 per semester or 100,000 a year times four. euqalling 400,000+ undergrad forget the little pay you get after getting the M.D.

so 450G to 500G for a med education yea 200G is decent.

AWH YEAH! Im so excited for residency! 30-40k a year!

what school? OHSU(third best for practice) is the one around here. but it has a 3% rate :(

oh well, still have awhile till I start applying for med schools.

[ILikeTobacco]

Epin win. Although it would have been an epic fail if he didn't get a job and had over 100G of loans.

If you don't have a job, you don't have to make any payments. Your loans keep gaining interest but your payments are deferred.

[LittleNeutrino Veteran]

I still have around $93,000 in student loans and I am paying mine with Wage Garnishment. :( the Monthly payments they started wanting for the student loans because "time are tough" so they started raising the interest rates and what they wanted monthly was more than I got paid. So I started only giving them a few hundred a month, they counted that as not paying my bill and filed with the courts for garnishment, Now they take 25% of my paycheck and split it among the student loan companies equally and i do not have to write a check each month. They all get even less than i was willing to pay each of them each month, My credit was already garbage so, for me it is kind of a win I suppose. I pay less per month, and they get to suffer. Then again at this point it will take me nearly 20 years to pay off my loans.