Funding post grad course: Advice please

Tom_Sel

I'll try to keep this as brief as I can, but I'm tired and have a tendency to waffle so no promises...

I've been accepted on a Masters course, starting next week. As of right now, I have no funding in place.

I'm aware of a few different possibilities but just have some questions I was hoping someone could help with. General advice would be great too if you have anything to add.

I'm aware of the Professional Career Dev. Loan (PCDL) and plan to apply for it. I don't have a bad credit history, but I'm recently (1 year) self-employed and in the process of getting my accounts done. I have none ready to present at the moment.

Whilst I could easily afford the repayments, I'm worried that any lenders will instantly turn me down as by looking at my current account, it looks like I'm practically unemployed.

Virtually all of my bills are paid via my business account. I rarely pay myself a wage and when I do it's just to cover basic living costs. I have very little outgoings.

Will this pose a problem? The lender wants 3 months recent, consecutive bank statements from my current account. This account is overdrawn considerably (student overdraft) with, as I've said, very little activity in or out.

I've asked them whether it would be more suitable to provide statements from my business account and whilst they refused to give me any information on whether the lack of current account activity would be a problem, they have explicitly said I do need to provide statements from my current account, rather than the business. (The loan will be repaid from the business account, which was the reason for asking.)

Right, that's that one out of the way.

Next, let's fast forward and assume I've been declined for the PCDL. My only other choices (that I'm aware of) are a personal, or possibly a business loan. In respect to the latter, as this is for training and development which will directly affect my job performance, I feel that it's not inappropriate to consider a business loan.

My personal account is with NatWest, who offer 'Graduate Loans'. Does anyone have any experience of these? Is the eligibility criteria any more lenient than a standard personal loan? Would they take into account the fact the loan would be repaid from my business account, and overlook the lack of funds/activity on my account with them?

Finally, the business loan. I've never applied for one before and could use some advice. My account is with Lloyds. Are unsecured loans available? Reading their eligibility criteria, they mention needing a business plan, etc. Would this be required in my case?

I appreciate many of these questions it would be difficult or impossible to give a certain answer to without contact the respective organisations directly. But right now, I'm practically clueless, stressed out due to lack of time and would just love some advice.

Thanks a lot,

Tom

Tom_Sel

Just realised, I left out some key details:

Amount needed: £4,500
(£6k~ fee - £1,500 grant)
Ideally this would be over 2-3 years. The shorter the better, though I understand I'm more likely to be accepted for a longer term due to the lower repayments.

Current debt:
Student overdraft: -£1,400. (Out of possible £1,500~)
Credit card: £600 (Out of max £800)
Retail finance: £600 (Paid off in 3 months. Bought laptop + equipment for business on 0% finance)

Current income: Roughly £1.2k pm. Sometimes a bit less (absolutely lowest would be £900) and some months closer to £2k.

Current expenditure:
About £300pm. However, £200pm of that will be paid off in a few months.

(The reason for the low expenditure is I've moved back home with parents after finishing Uni while I save up cash to move out next year.)

Tom_Sel

Wow, and again.

Just had an idea that may swing things in my favour.

Although NatWest say they would consider self-employed applicants for the Grad. loans, I don't fancy my chances and generally want you to either be working or have a job offer.

Well, technically I could get a job offer. A large portion of my self-employed earnings are from one client, who I'm contracted on a rolling basis to provide admin work for. As time has gone on, I'm doing more and more hours for them and they suggested I just go on PAYE with them.

I was initially reluctant to do this as I wanted to keep cashflow going through the business. But I think I'm starting to see the benefit...

This would be worth about £12k p/a. Now, I can get them to provide a job offer, but what exactly would NatWest accept as a formal job offer? Is it just a letter of confirmation from the prospective employer, signed contract, or what?

Thanks again,

Tom

mlp

As a self-employed sole-trader (I assume there is no partner in the business), your business assets are your assets- why can't you present 3 months of business current account statements?

However, based upon the levels of income and expenditure you present, why not delay the post grad course by 12 months and save up the money needed? (and pay off your overdraft/debts)?

Voyager2002

There is one fundamental flaw in your plans...

Most people funding a post-grad course by a CDL would study full-time. That means they have no time in which to work, and so need to borrow sufficient funds to cover living expenses as well as the course fee.

vintagebrighton

My OH came up against this problem and decided not to study full time (although he'd have dearly loved to). We don't have any funding at all. What we do is work part time/study part time and have an arrangement with the University to pay fees termly. This means that every month we have to put away £200 just for fees for his course, but means that we have a lump sum to pay 3 times a year. If you don't have the funding for full time this could be an option for you.

Bored

You don't need to be employed in order to get a CDL. I was unemployed (with a maxed out student overdraft) when I was accepted.

Tom_Sel

Thanks for all of the replies, its much appreciated.

Good to hear that the PCDL might be easy to be accepted for.

As for showing them my business account, I wondered the same. I've already spoken to Barclay's (one of the two banks offering the loan) and they said they needed the personal account statements. It was difficult to get a straight answer from them though and it may just be the case that the staff member was incorrect.

Ill ring the Co-op (the other bank) tomorrow and get their advice.

As for earning, I would be able to study full time this year due to the vast majority of my hours being over the weekend. If I deferred a year, full time wouldn't be an option as I don't want to have to stay at home a further year and perhaps wouldn't be so fortunate to have most of my week free.

Part time is a possibility, but I would lose the grant and obviously it would take much longer to complete (three years). I'm not completely ruling it out but it's definitely a last resort.

Bored: If you don't mind me asking when did you get your PCDL? Obviously lending is a fair bit stricter than a few years ago so I'm just wondering if it was quite recently.

Bored

I applied last month for the loan to fund my masters course (due to start in the next few weeks). The emphasis is on different criteria for CDLs as oppose to traditional bank loans so it's definitely worth applying.

EDIT: Also, don't stress too much about providing bank statements. Mine barely showed any activity since I'm living with my parents, and the balance was hovering near the overdraft limit for the entire 3 month period.

Tom_Sel

That's really good to hear. Your situation looks very similar to mine so wish me luck...

The Uni have given me 30 days to sort something out so should be enough time.

To get even more invasive, roughly how much did you apply for? I'd need roughly £4500 for course fees and was going to ask for an additional £700 to cover my travel expenses. I was worried about asking for the final £700 if it means I would be declined...

Bored

I applied for £4000 for course fees, and £5000 for living costs, so quite a substantial amount.

(Just want to mention that I do have a plan to pay back the money after graduating, as well as a part time job now, so it's not as reckless borrowing as it sounds!)