A warning about Career Development Loans

bowdeni

It's a shame that there is no means to contact Martin Lewis directly as I feel this information should be made available on the website.

This year I applied for a career development loan and my application was successful. When doing so, you state the tuition fee costs, and other costs. The tuition fees are paid directly to the university. Previously this was done in one lump sum ideally, but my university have been notified that this is no longer the case. It may now be done in three installments. This has implications depending on your university.

I am studying at Royal Holloway. If you make payment before the 5th of Sep you receive a £200 discount. I completed my form with time so that the funds would be received by the university for this to be possible. However, since the funds are now paid in three installments, I will no longer receive this discount of £200.

To make matters worse, the university actually charge an admin fee to receive payment over three installments of.... £200. To clarify, the cost of the three installments vs one lump sum to pay tuition fees has cost me £400.

Thus, it is my recommendation that prior to applying for a career development loan you

1) First inquire with the bank how the tuition fees are paid, i.e. time period and how many installments

2) Check with the learning provider the costs incurred of such a payment scheme, and ask if there are discounts for early payment.

By missing out on early payment discounts, and incurring admin fees as I do with my learning provider, it means that there may be a cheaper source of funding your studies than a career development loan.

Nazitf

Which bank did you use for your loan? I've phoned up RBS and they said that the tuition fees are paid as a lump sum. I made sure that was the case because we get a 2% discount if fees are paid at the beginning of the year. From what I've read, Barclays pays in instalments but I'm not sure about the co-op bank.

lilysgarden

Apparantly, according to all three providers of CDL's, Northern Ireland isn't part of the UK either. And even if you've lived in the UK for the last 3 years on an undergrad degree, you still can't get the loan!!!

toomanyshoes

Frustrating isn't it.

I applied to the Co-op and they decided I was over commited. I then applied to Barclays who told me that my course, the CPE/GDL, is not covered as the course has to be vocational.

Now, I have a degree and the CPE will convert that degree to a law degree so I would have thought that would increase my employability but apparently not. :rolleyes: