Professional Studies/Career Development Loans

wrexhamandy

Anyone got views on which one is the best?

I'm starting LPC this September in College of Law in Chester (£8,500 odd) and so far my thoughts are:

Career Development Loan
Kind of Government subsidised loan offered by three banks (Barclays, CoOp and err TSB?) - cheapest interest rate yet only up to about £8000 so wouldnt pay for living expenses/rent/past debts etc.

Natwest
Do a professional studies loan which is very low interest, and a special College of Law one which is a little bit lower again. Borrow up to £25,000, so can pay for course, rent, fun and all previous debt. Early repayment fee though (like if get a tyraining contract with firm who will pay it off later). Tried to apply last week yet the only guy who can do them in Chester is going on holiday for 2 weeks now (at the only time of the year he's actually needed! ridiculous!) which is disgraceful. Like Santa going on holiday for a fortnight at Xmas time. Shocking service which is suprising as always been good.

Barclays
Went in today to enquire. Lady was a bit clueless. Can borrow up to £25,000 which is nice. Looks like early repayment fee. Suprisingly low interest rate for Barclays (my Barclaycard hurts me). Got an appointment to see the relevant person on Wednesday for more info.

HSBC
Again suprisngly low interest rate for professional studies loan. Can borrow lots. And NO early repayment fee. 3 years of truly AWFUL (that bad its in capitals) service with my student account though putting me off. A last, last resort.

So yeah anyone done such a course before or will be soon? Which ones have people used or will use? Gonna borrow about £15,000 I think for course, living and consolidating 2 student overdrafts and a few credit cards (and ok maybe a little holiday).

Andy

molotov_3

Andy,

Just finished the LPC at BPP last year so went through the samething as you last year re loans. Ended up with Barclays which was a good rate, get a nine month payment holiday at the end of the course and can spread it over a number of years. You will need to open an account (if you dont have one). To give you an idea of the interest rate, £12,000 will cost me monthly repayments of about £170 a month, which seems pretty good.

Hope this helps and good luck with the LPC / Training Contract hunt!

sweetus123

just a thought but when i looked at development loans was told by others that you still have to pay them back as soon as 2 weeks after you finish the trainning with no protection againt payments if you dont have a job by this point. furthermore from this point forward the amount you pay on your intrest i think will go up quite a lot so if you where thinking of this option mayby check your intrest rates

DrFluffy

HSBC have changed their stance recently, and you now need to take out Life Assurance in order to take a Professional Studies Loan. Also, you can no longer repay early... If you want to change your payment profile you have to take out another loan for the amount remaining and amend your monthly payback fee...

anewman

Maybe go for both the Career Development Loan (as free money, stick in high interest account - earn interest on it - then repay it all at the end of the year) and the other?!

I am currently intending to study part time for 2 years and am currently unemployed. I have applied for a CDL for £8k with barclay's so I'll see how that goes.

Only problem with professional development loans is you are charged interest from day one - so it keeps mounting up - therefore a payment holiday is only good for the bank as it makes them money - and bad for you as you have to cough it up later and it makes all your later interest charges higher too!