When To Use A Personal Loan For Education In Singapore
When you are not able to get a study loan, Singaporeans can consider using a moneylender personal loan for school fees and education. Advancing your education as well as improving your skills is important when you wish to advance your career due to the high level of competitive careers in Singapore.
However, in Singapore professional certifications will cost you thousands of dollars. For instance, a 10-week part-time online marketing course will cost you about S$5,000. On the other hand, learning coding in Android or iOS will cost you about S$15,000. Even the traditional fields of study like Office Administration will cost you about S$1,000 for the 2-day course.
When you do not have the ready cash for you to be able to attend these programmes, and also a study loan is not accessible for you, you might make use of the moneylender personal loan for your education.
Is It Advisable For You To Get A Personal Loan Before The Education Loan
For Singaporeans who are looking at upgrading their skills need a means of financing their efforts. Before you could consider taking out personal loans, you could start looking towards the education loan to help you realize your needs.
In Singapore, education loans tend to attract much lower interest rates (about 4% a year) when compared to regular personal loans (which are about 5%-8%). This means that you will be saving a lot more money by using the former.
Once your education loans have been approved, they are often disbursed to the educational institutions. This will be saving you the problem of having to pay your study fees each time. Nevertheless, you might come across several scenarios that might stop you from accessing an education loan.
In this case, getting a personal loan might prove to be helpful for you. Therefore, you could consider using a moneylender personal loan to fund your education when:
- You have exhausted limits on your education loan
- You are not eligible for education loans
- You do not have sufficient SkillsFuture Credit
- Your course of choice is not entitled to an education loan
You Have Exhausted Limits On Your Education Loan
It is highly recommended that you make sure you have worked out the exact amount of money you will need to cover your entire studies before you take out a study loan. And as soon as you have arrived at the last figure, attempt to keep to the set budget.
The reason for this is since education loans come with a set limit. This amount will range from an amount of about S$80,000-S$200,000. Immediately after the set amount has been used up, you will have to look for an alternative to funding your studies.
However, there could be specific instances – for instance, taking a summer internship that will lead to a firm in the industry you are in, – that may perhaps be valuable for you to pursue. When you find yourself an opportunity such as this, you could consider supplementing the education loan using a personal loan to help you get maximum benefits from these studies.
You Are Not Eligible For Education Loans
Education loans in Singapore come with specific eligibility requirements. For starters, most Singaporean education loans necessitate that you be aged 21 years and above (this is with exception to the OCBC – the minimum age for the education loan is 17).
You also need to be earning between S$24,000-S$30,000 for every year, as well as you need not be studying full-time. You may also bypass the requirements by asking an immediate member of your family to be your guarantor. Even then, your guarantor also has to meet the minimum requirements as well.
When you are not able to meet the requirements for accessing an education loan by yourself or through getting a guarantor, you will need to consider taking out a personal loan to help you pay for your education. POSB and DBS often offer personal loans that have a lower yearly requirement with an income requirement of around S$20,000, however, you will still have to have attained the age of 21 years.
You Do Not Have Sufficient SkillsFuture Credits
In Singapore, individuals aged 25 and over often receive S$500 to use up in over 10,000 suitable SkillsFuture workshops and courses. The Singaporean government has made a promise to every so often replenish this account, but the details for the year 2017 haven’t been announced yet.
Considering that the initial amount is relatively modest, there is a possibility that the SkillsFuture Credit you receive alone are not enough to cater for all the courses you would like to take. In this case, you could consider making use of a personal loan since it will assist you in toping up the workshop fees or even paying for all the remaining courses on your list.
Your Course Of Choice Is Not Entitled To An Education Loan
Education loans are only intended for educational purposes. It is for this reason that when they are approved, the amount for the loan will be paid out to the educational institution’s account (that is through an escrow account, or via a similar protective agreement). Thus this amount does not go straight to your individual bank account.
And because of that it also means that your education loan will only be used for paying for the courses offered by all the approved institutions in Singapore. When the provider of the course you wish to pursue is not among the approved course list, your application for a loan will not be accepted. In such a case, you could think about getting a personal loan to help you cover the costs of pursuing your selected study programme.
Conclusion
In Singapore, professional certifications will often cost you a pretty penny. Even then study loan are accessible to people who would like to advance their studies. But there are situations that might hinder your desire to pursue a study course such as being ineligible for a study loan. But before you give up yet, there is the personal loan option available to you which will allow you to get a certification of the course you would wish to take.
