£25k unsecured with 18mth payment holiday?

Flashfly

Does anyone know if a loan like this exists?

I am looking to undergo training for a career change and it'll mean that I'm out of a job for about 18 months (so unable to afford any repayments).

Thanks,
Flashfly.

Mr_Pink_3

Is the loan to fund the course?

If the loan is to be used to fund the course and expenses then yes you may well be able to get an unsecured loan for this amount.

I know a few chaps who have borrowed precisely the £25k (unsecured) you mention from HSBC with a 21 month re-payment holiday, which was the course duration plus 6 months.

It should be noted that the £25k represented less than half of the total course cost/expenses.

In the past I think HSBC have lent far more than £25k unsecured, but am told things have changed and in fact £25k is the unwritten maximum for unsecured loans of this nature. Also I don’t think HSBC detail these loans on their website anymore. I believe they used to be called a PSL - Professional Studies Loan, but may now be badged as a CDL – Career Development.

Also worth checking out the government aided official CDLs at:

http://www.lifelonglearning.dfes.gov.uk/cdl/front.htm

The limit of these is £8k but it may be beneficial for this to form a part of the total amount borrowed.

Good Luck

Flashfly

Thanks Mr Pink,

Yes the loan is to part fund the course/expenses. It'll cover approximately half of the costs. Seems the chaps you know were on the same course I'm planning on doing

I was hoping to borrow more than £25k from HSBC but they seem to require security to borrow above £25k. Security is difficult for me to provide, so I'm looking to get as much as I can unsecured with a payment holiday.

Your suggestion of CDLs might be work another look to help top-up my loan.

Cheers Flashfly.

Mr_Pink_3

Morning Flashfly,

I understand your position entirely.

One school of thought is to borrow as much as you can from HSBC or another bank and then apply for a £8K CDL from one of the three official CDL banks (Barclays, The Co-operative and The Royal Bank of Scotland) after the course has started. Obviously this is risky as there are no guarantees that you will be granted the extra loan and could cause problems if your calcs are based on getting that extra £8k.

On the credit card board on this site you will read about people 'stoozing' - releasing cash from credit cards at low interest rates (sometimes 0%) and earning respectable interest in savings accounts or offsetting against loans/mortgages. This may again be an option for you to fund a proportion of your expected costs.

Apologies if I am teaching you to suck eggs.

If you want to PM me then please do.

Cheers.

Edited to say that I know realise that I was trying to teach you to suck eggs as I have just seen your post re: Amex on the CC board!

Flashfly

Don't worry about teaching me to such eggs!

Great advice from you again. Thanks.

I'm going to have to get this CDL thing worked out as this is my prefered option to CCs.

Stoozing (as discussed on the other board) is something I see I'll have to stop prior to applying for the HSBC (or other) £25k loan. I was thinking that having a fair amount of CC debt could stop me getting a loan.

Thanks Flashfly.

gkerr4

What sort of course costs £50k - if you don't mind me asking?

Flashfly

gkerr4 wrote:

What sort of course costs £50k - if you don't mind me asking?

It is for Commercial Pilot training. Not cheap!

angelica

I was hoping to borrow more than £25k from HSBC but they seem to require security to borrow above £25k.

I have a loan with HSBC (APR 6.6%) to fund my studies, and it is an unsecured loan of £30.200 (approx. 70% of the course fee). But my business school has a special agreement with HSBC, so this can be different. I guess anyway it's worth a try.

Good luck with your loan application.