$114,000 Student Loan Bills Aren’t Meant To Be Paid In Cash

Cash is hassle free, right? Well, maybe if you’re buying lunch. But if you’re paying off a $114,000 student loan bill, cash can actually make things more difficult.

Earlier this week a photo popped up on the internet of a $114,000 student loan bill that was paid off in cash. Since then, Since then, Alex Kenjeev, a 2009 law school graduate of the University of Toronto, has come forward to tell his story.

Kenjeev said:

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

Business Insider reports that Kenjeev had been paying off his $190,000 student debt off in incremental payments. But after making some money off of an unidentified start-up business, Kenjeev decided to pay the rest of his bill in cash.

Kenjeev went to the Royal Bankof Canada to withdraw $114,000. The bank initially refused and said that he’d have to pay a transport fee to have an armored truck deliver the money. After talking with a few officials, the armor truck fee (and the armor truck) was waived and the bank said that they’d have the money in a few days.

Kenjeev stuffed the money into a canvas bag and walked two blocks over to Scotiabank to pay off his student debt.

Kenjeev said:

“I just plopped the bag down… They also didn’t know how to handle it. At first the manager didn’t want to accept the money.”

Kenjeev had to talk to multiple employees at the bank to convince them to take his money. Then, the tellers went to work counting the bills.

Kenjeev said that he’s happy to be debt free now, but the next time he has to pay a big bill he’ll probably just write a check. Kenjeev said:

“I was pretty naive. 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.”