Getting a student loan

With the costs of tertiary education being what they are, many students may need to apply for a student loan.

Corne Jordaan, head of credit, FNB Personal Loans, said that interest rates are calculated based on individual risk profiles and are linked to the prime rate.

“Interest rates are linked to prime and are calculated on the individual risk profiles of the parent or sponsor.”

Rates offered to FNB customers are between prime and prime plus six and are more favourable than normal personal loan rates.

Qualifying criteria includes:

* The principle debtor (parent or sponsor) must be employed.

* The student must be registered with a South African Tertiary institution.

* The principle debtor (parent or sponsor) should be able to afford the monthly repayments and earn a minimum income of R6 000 per month.

“Interest is charged whilst the student is studying and needs to be serviced monthly by a parent or sponsor.

“We provide a further six months grace after completion of studies before capital repayments starts,” said Jordaan.

Loans are to be repaid over a term of 60 months.

More than 3 000 students over the past year and nearly 23,000 over the past 10 years have taken out a student loan.