Personal Loans

Banks Granting Student Loan in Nigeria

Education has become more than a necessity. It has been embedded into the culture of an average Nigerian household regardless of their status.

Just like every other thing that attracts huge interest, education doesn’t come cheap. As such, there are now platforms where you can get a student loan in Nigeria to finance your schooling.

In this post, we have explained what a student loan is about, and outlined some ways to get a quick loan for your school fees.

What is a Student Loan?

A student loan is designed to help students pay for education and its associated fees. This loan differs from other kinds of loans in the sense that the interest rate is relatively lower, and the repayment schedule is much more flexible.

How to Get A Student Loan in Nigeria

1. Access Bank Student Loan

The Access Bank student loan is an advance for school fees which is designed to provide students with short-term financing to cover tuition fees.

Features

• Ensure that nothing interrupts the education process.
• You can get up to ₦5 million
• There is an option to refinance the loan
• Remittance services are available

Requirements

• A completed application form
• Your admission letter
• Tuition advice
• Letter of domiciliation of your salary account or your parent’s/sponsor’s salary account
• Copy of employment ID or valid means of identification belonging to you or your parent/sponsor
• BVN
• Credit checks

2. GT Bank Student Loan

GT Bank’s school fees advance is a loan facility designed to finance the payment of your child’s/ward’s school fees for schools in Nigeria only.

Features

• You can get up to ₦5 million in student loans with a maximum tenure of 4 months per request
• Competitive interest rate
• Immediate access to the loan

Requirements

• Completed application form and employer undertaking form
• School fees bill and credit insurance
• Ensure that staff terminal benefit is domiciled in GTBank or obtain Corporate Guarantee

3. First Bank FirstEdu Loan

First Bank’s FirstEdu loan is targets proprietors. It offers flexible funding for upgrading school facilities and meeting of funding gaps pending the receipt of school fees.

Features/Requirements

• It has a flexible repayment plan spread for 90 days
• Access to a maximum amount of ₦10 million
• The only collateral requirement is domiciliation of school fees with First Bank
• The School must have been in account relationship with FirstBank for a minimum period of 6 months or 12 months with other banks
• Target markets are private schools duly under CAC and their State Government
• The school population must be a minimum of 100 students

4. Federal Government Education Loan

The Nigerian government approved the establishment of education bank and student loan boards by states at concessionary interest rates to allow students easy access to funds.

The government also approved the establishment of education funds by all states of the federation. Special emphasis is on funding teacher development and secondary education, as well as establishing a special intervention fund for individuals with special needs.

In Conclusion

Funding education should not be a herculean task with this array of options available for accessing quick loans in Nigeria. All you need is to choose from any of the platforms granting loans for school fees and ensure that you meet all their requirements.

Common Misconceptions About Personal Loans

Low credit score leads to loan rejection 

Many borrowers assume that a low credit score would result in the loan application being rejected. While your credit score is considered when evaluating loan eligibility, there are factors taking precedence over a low credit score. Financial institutions factor in aspects such as the borrower’s income and their repayment capacity in combination. However, note that the interest rate for individuals with a low credit score is higher than those with higher ones.  

Personal loans have a high rate of interest 

A number of individuals believe that the rate of interest on these loans is generally very high. However, this is not always the case. In many instances, financial institutions and other lenders set interest rates based on the individual’s repayment capacity and credit score. Individuals who have a low repayment capacity are generally provided loans at higher interest rates. Borrowers with a good credit score and track record can get a personal loan with an interest rate as low as 10.99% p.a. 

Personal loans can only be availed from banks 

Another common misconception about loans is that a lot of individuals assume that banks are the only financial institutions that offer personal loans. While banks do comprise a majority of the financial institutions that offer loans, there are a number of Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) that offer personal loans. In a number of instances where banks reject an applicant’s personal loan application, NBFCs and other digital lenders are willing to accept loan applications from these borrowers since their loan eligibility criteria is more flexible than those set by banks.  

Personal loans cannot be availed if you already have an existing loan 

A number of loan applicants believe that they cannot avail a personal loan if they are already repaying an existing loan. This is not true and the same criteria is applied to sanctioning a second personal loan as is for the first one. Financial institutions accept loan applications based on the borrower’s repayment capacity and their current income. The loan application is either accepted or rejected based on the applicant’s capacity to repay the loan after taking into consideration existing EMI payments.  

Only salaried individuals can apply for personal loans 

It is a common belief that only those individuals who have a steady flow of income are eligible to apply for personal loans. This is another myth about how loan applications are evaluated. For salaried individuals, having their loan application accepted is easier since there is a regular inflow of funds. However, individuals who are self-employed can also avail personal loans and the approval of the loan amount is based on the individual’s credit history. However, the amount that is sanctioned might vary. 

Personal loans do not have a prepayment option 

Another myth about personal loans is that the borrower cannot repay the loan amount before the tenure ends. Most individuals believe this because personal loans tend to have a much shorter tenure than other types of loans. However, borrowers can repay the loan amount before the end of the loan tenure. Most financial institutions tend to have a minimum tenure for which individuals have to make the monthly EMI payments. Following the completion of the minimum tenure, borrowers can foreclose their loan. They will need to pay a certain amount as the foreclosure fee. 

Processing time  

Some borrowers believe that the processing time for most loan applications is very long and requires a lot of documentation. This may have been true several years ago. Right now, applying for a loan and having the amount disbursed to your account can be done within 48 hours. Additionally, some banks have instant loan option. This disburses the loan amount to the borrowers account within minutes of submitting the application.

When you need the money and have a poor credit score, it’s easy to accept any offer for a personal loan. But there are scam artists waiting to take advantage of that situation. They may offer loans via online website advertisements.

Here are some warning signs that are usually experienced by victims of loan scams:

No Interest in Your Credit History 

Legitimate lenders evaluate a person’s creditworthiness BEFORE making a loan. Never listen to claims like “Bad credit? No credit? No problem!’’, else you’d fall for loan scams. There’s definitely a problem. It’s YOUR problem.

Phone Offer 

It is illegal to make loan offers over the phone. Any offer must be put in writing. It must prominently mention all associated fees.

Upfront Fees 

The lender may disguise these as application or document fees, but they aren’t. Think about this: You are asked to send money before you get a loan. That’s a scam. A loan scam. Legitimate lenders must disclose all their fees. Typically, they are rolled into the cost of the loan, not paid for in advance.

Wire Transfers 

If the lender demands you to wire money for fees, that’s a red flag. Never wire money to an individual. Always ask for the lender’s physical address. Then reach out to the Attorney General or Financial Regulations office in the state to verify if it’s a legal business or a loan scam.

Copycat Name

In an attempt to appear legitimate, clever loan scam artists will come up with a business name or website that looks or sounds genuine. It’s always advisable to check with the Better Business Bureau to authenticate the address and phone number. If the mailing address appears as a Post Office Box, please be cautious.

Personal Information 

Never give out your social security number, date of birth, bank account number or other important personal information unless you are certain you’re dealing with a responsible lending institution. Loan scammers can use your personal information for identity theft or to steal from your bank account.

State Registration

Lenders and loan brokers are to register in the states where they do business. You can check through the Attorney General’s office Financial Regulation or Department of Banking in your state. That won’t guarantee the perfect experience with the lender, but it can help spot a loan scam.

Customer Service

Reputable lenders have phone numbers you can call. If you aren’t comfortable with customer service, you shouldn’t give the company your business. Don’t settle for the phone robots, either. You should be able to speak with a person.

Reviews 

Online reviews are now influential. They can also help you pick a reputable lender. You can Google the outfit or person’s name, while you check Facebook, the Better Business Bureau or other sites that specialize in lending reviews. If there are bad reviews, take note. If there’s consistency across several locations, with everyone forming an unfavourable impression, that is a warning.

Red Flags 

There are several things that should prompt immediate concern. Be suspicious of email messages contain errors in spelling, capitalization, punctuation and/or grammar. That’s a lack of professionalism. Be wary if you get a free period (like a year with no payments) before the loan must be repaid. Definitely beware if the lender says they don’t use credit checks and will lend money regardless of past financial problems.

Conclusion

If you’ve been the victim of a loan scam or personal loan fraud, contact your local law enforcement as soon as possible.

Are you looking to secure a car loan anytime soon in Nigeria? Grab a seat and relax. We have outlined these stages in bite-sized steps for you to comprehend.

Step 1

Identify the kind of car you intend to buy. Whether it’s a fairly used car or a brand new one, the banks are always willing to finance. This is a very important step as you do not want to approach a bank without a knowledge of what you want. That way, you have a guide even if you decide to change your mind in the long run. 

Step 2

Find out the price and when the car will arrive once you pay. That is pretty much easy. All you need to do is to go to a car shop and identify the car you intend to get. Once this is done, you can get a proforma invoice – a draft invoice. 

It is noteworthy to mention that banks usually don’t finance the entire purchase of your car. They normally fund 60% or 70% while you fund the remaining with your own cash (equity). Say, for instance, the car costs N2 million, the bank will give you 60% of that which is N1.2m while you are responsible for N800K. Again, you will be obligated to buy car insurance which is about 5% value of the car. Following our estimation, that amounts to N100k incurred. 

Step 3

Find out if your dealer has an existing arrangement with your bank. Some banks make prior arrangements with car dealers to facilitate the loan process. 

Step 4

Banks offer several products that outline their terms for a car loan; although the details are pretty much the same. Ideally, if you use a bank that offers a product relating to car loans, the better for you. If your bank doesn’t, then you can either proceed with them or try another bank. However, almost all banks offer such products. 

Step 5

Say your bank offers such deals, do get in touch with your account officer and request a car loan. If you would rather approach another bank, you could make enquiries from their customer service. However, you would have to open an account with such bank.

Step 6

Now that you have resolved everything with your bank, you will be asked to draft a formal application for a car loan. You will be requested to attach a copy of your payslip, the [final] invoice for the car and a copy of your employment letter. Your account officer will need these details for processing.

Step 7

Upon submitting your application, all that is left is to await processing. The bank, through the account officer, will present you a couple of forms to fill. These could include information like your personal details, salary details, residential address and the like.

Step 8

Following this, the bank will present you with an offer letter. The offer letter from the bank is a document showing the amount lent to you by the bank, the interest rate, repayment structure, fees, security and the like. Furthermore, they may require standing orders. These are an order from you to your bank to deduct from your salary every month. 

In whichever case, you should always check your bank statement at the end of the month to verify how much was debited from your account. If the difference is more than 10% in any given month (i.e your repayment schedule says N80k for a given month then suddenly you see N88k for that month), you should quickly call your account officer for an explanation. 

Step 9

Once you accept the offer and fulfil all the requirements of the bank, the loan will be disbursed to your account. However, the bank will only disburse the amount to you when they are about to issue a bank draft to the car dealer for the purchase of the car. 

Step 10

The bank will issues a draft to your dealer after which you get the car. Car ownership will be shared between yourself and the bank. Therefore, your name and the bank’s name will reflect on all car documents. It is noteworthy to mention that banks do not usually request collateral. Their security is basically the comprehensive insurance which you pay for and the car itself. So when you default in payments, the bank can seize the car from you and sell it to recover for the loss.

Conclusion

Applying for a loan is not rocket science. The steps we have described above do not explicitly follow a routine and dogmatic format. By and large, there may be modifications in the eventual processing of the loan. This is, however, intended to crave an indulgence into the car application operations.

Just before you delve into securing a personal loan, we have discussed some rules of thumb to guide your decision.

Personal loans come in many flavours. There are secured or unsecured loans. With a secured personal loan, you offer up collateral that’s valuable in case you do not payback. If you default, the lender gets that asset. Auto loans and mortgages and are typical examples of secured debt.

With an unsecured loan, the most common type of personal loan, you aren’t to put up collateral. If you don’t pay back the money the lender can’t garnish any of your assets. That’s not to say there aren’t repercussions.  If you default on an unsecured personal loan it will hurt your credit score, which raises the cost of borrowing, in some cases dramatically. And the lender may file a lawsuit against you in order to collect your outstanding debt, with interest.

Unsecured personal loans usually finance a big purchase (such as a wedding or vacation), to pay down high-interest credit card debt or to consolidate student loans.

Personal loans are a lump sum which the lender will deposit into your bank account. In most cases, you’re to pay back the loan over a fixed period of time at a fixed interest rate. The payback period may be as short as one year to as long as a decade. However, this varies from one lender to another. You can check out some of our posts on personal loan lenders like Palmcredit, Renmoney Nigeria, and so on.

Your Credit Score Dictates the Cost to Borrow

Lenders want to be sure you can handle loans responsibly and will look at your past behaviour to get an idea of how responsible you’ll be in the future. Lots of late or missed payments are a big red flag. To keep our score high, always make all your payments on time.

Asides from of your credit score, lenders will look at your income, employment history,  liquid assets and the total debt you have. They want to know that you can afford to pay the loan back. The higher your income along with assets and the lower other debt, the more trustworthy you appear to them. Having a good credit score when applying for a personal loan is important.

Saving money is never an easy task. It’s overwhelming how we go through different phases of our lives with each phase bearing its responsibilities.

One moment, you’re fending solely for yourself and in the twinkle of an eye, you have a family. One of these many responsibilities includes the burden of keeping up with your finances: You’re caught in the web of saving for emergencies, as well as investing in your kids’ future.

How then can you ensure -in the most effective manner- that you manage the finances of your household without compromising on essentials? We have outlined some simple steps to guide you on how to save money effectively.

How To Save Money Effectively

1. Cut Down The Food Budget

It is likely that food is one of your biggest outgoing costs. One of the ways this escalates quickly is through eating out. Even it is just once a week, meals away from home add up quickly.

One of the main reasons we consider getting a takeaway is that we do not have anything planned for dinner that night, or breakfast in the morning. This temptation can be eliminated by introducing a meal plan to your household. By planning your meals, you also reduce your food shop bill by avoiding buying things you don’t need.

2. Manage Your  Utility Bills

True, monthly expenses can be daunting. However, settling a debt and will prevent lots of problems in the coming future. Of course, keeping your lights on, your water running, and a place to live are a really good excuse for paying your bills.

However, it is also imperative that you cut these bills down to the barest minimum. Making these choices may be difficult as we believe that they are necessary.

When you make the hard choices of letting some of these go or cutting them down, the better for you. You save money.

You might want to consider reviewing your electricity bills which probably consumes a chunk of your monthly budget.

3. Spend Less on Shopping

Instead of heading to the nearest high street shop when you need something, why not save some money by getting it second hand instead?

Why spend a lot of money when you can get other variants for a cheaper price? This is just a means to effectively boost your savings.

4. Sell What You No Longer Need 

Rather than throwing away items you no longer need, why not try selling them to make some additional money? Old clothes? Microwave? Air Conditioner? Refrigerator? Other electrical appliances?

It proves you can get money for items you don’t use anymore. Isn’t that a great way to boost your savings? You might want to consider this sometime.

5. Save, Against All Odds

Like earlier established, making money might be difficult sometimes. The never-ending bills do not appear like they would disappear into thin air anytime soon. You must imbibe the habit of saving a percentage of any money you earn.

Conclusion

While these bills are choking, you need to have a savings plan you religiously abide with. It could be any amount on either a daily, weekly, or monthly plan. There are savings platforms like Cowrywise and PiggyVest that can help you achieve this.

What’s more important is that you get it done. Is it difficult? Could be. Is it impossible? We do not think so. When bills become overwhelming, there are some platforms for quick online loans in Nigeria like Renmoney and the likes you can explore.

It can be quite devastating for a business owner to experience a loan rejection when trying to secure adequate funds to invest in their business.

Ideally, business fruition thrives upon access to investment opportunities, as well as readily-available cash. For a number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs), there is a tenacious dependence on banks and other financial institutions for business loans. It is, however, noteworthy to mention that there is a conscious divergence from traditional institutions to financial technology platforms.

That’s right. Other than banks, a new wave of lending platforms are sweeping the industry.

It is relatively easy to apply for a loan in any of the commercial banks in Nigeria, as well as other lending institutions.

However, the success of your loan application may not prove automatic as this depends on a number of factors. A loan application can be denied for various reasons, and we walk you through these so that you can eliminate them to increase your chances of getting a loan.

1. Bad Credit History Leading to Loan Rejection

Credit history? What does that even mean? Credit history is a report of all the previous loans an applicant has taken in the past. It also takes into account; an analysis of how the loan was repaid. Now, one of the foremost things a lender does is to make reference to your credit history. Undergoing this task provides the lender with information on the number of loans you have before they proceed with issuing another. 

This concept might appear strange because a number of Nigerians may not be familiar with the strategy – especially first-timers. It is noteworthy to mention that the credit score plays a significant role in the approval of your application. Ideally, when a loan is declined without reason, it is advised that you check your credit history to be sure that you do not have any defaulted loans.

Awareness of your credit score prior to applying for a loan will inform you if you have poor, or no credit at all. If so, you can be certain that your loan application will be denied because you are too much of a risk.

2. Limited or insufficient collateral

Lenders as banks or financial technology companies are typically not willing to risk lending money to businesses without some sort of reimbursement. Should you decide to loan from a bank, there is every tendency to request a physical property or an equivalent that they can hold on to if a loan is not repaid. 

What should you do in this light? You should create a collateral document that lists everything you can put up as collateral. You can include both business and personal assets since the former may not have the equipment to offer as collateral. Following this, you may have to offer your home or car as collateral.

3. Loan Rejection Due To Over-Indebtedness

An applicant’s salary, account balance or statement of account do not automatically justify the approval of a loan. Rejection or denial of loan might be due to outstanding loans on the part of the applicant. That’s right: A lender is able to ascertain when an applicant has a number of loans running concurrently. This is a risk-management decision for the lender and they may not be willing to take chances. Actually, it’s a no-no. 

4. Low Income/Profits

Like we have established earlier, lending platforms are in the business of giving out loans such that they can make returns for themselves. Judging by your application, it is possible to discover that your business may not possess the potential to repay them. In this light, an application may be denied. This, however, is not to encourage the adoption of pseudo proposals for your business. No, you do not want to try that.

The simple message is: If you apply for loans that are considered too large for you or your business’ capacity, the proposal may be declined.

5. Flimsy Business Plan or Proposal

Investors will not probably consider your loan application if you present a shallow business proposition. To ensure the approval of your loan sequel to submission, here is a simple rule of thumb: Do justice to the thoroughness and explicitness of your business plan. This paints the picture to your prospective investors that you have conducted research, or that you know your target customers. What’s more, is that it demonstrates you have a clear mission statement with goals in mind, and contains a calculated estimate of sales and profit projections.

The report further, suggested that asides from your plan, ensure you have prepared your resume, personal background, financial statements, bank statements, income tax returns, and legal documents such as articles of incorporation.

Conclusion

All of these reasons may not be clear to an applicant at the point of rejection because these were not criteria that they expected. However, if they are important to lenders when ascertaining whether or not to issue a loan, a borrower should also put the lenders into consideration prior to applying for a loan.

It is imperative that you do your homework when applying for a loan. Failure to use accurate information about yourself while applying on platforms like Branch Loan can also lead to rejection. Keeping tabs with trends is also an added advantage to keep you abreast of recent developments. If you discover at any point, that there might be complications, you might as well postpone your application until a later date. Alternatively, you can seek other lending platforms.

Related Post: 5 Tips on Effective Family Saving