The Students Loan Trust Fund (SLTF) has released GH¢20 million for disbursement to 13,500 beneficiaries in tertiary institutions in the country.
The amount will cater for qualified final-year and continuing students in the various institutions for the second semester of the current academic year.
This brings to GH¢60 million the amount of loans disbursed since January this year.
“Last Friday, we were able to pay GH¢20 million to students in the various institutions. So, I can say that almost all the Level 400 students who are due to go have been sorted out, unless somebody who has issues with his/her ezwich card or who did not fill the form right,” the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the SLTF, Nuhu Bayorbo told the Daily Graphic in Accra on Wednesday.
Regarding the mode of repayment, Mr Mahama said some debtors walked onto the premises of the SLTF to pay up, while others did that through mobile money, with those abroad using electronic money transfer platforms.
“So this year, our target is to recoup GH¢80 million from our borrowers,” he stated.
Mr Mahama said the repayment of the loan was very important as it helped to build the credit score of those doing so.
Credit score
The CEO of SLTF, however, said those who did not pay would see their credit score drop, adding that “you cannot even go in for a facility because you are not creditworthy”.
“So if you are owing students loan and you fail to repay, your credit score goes down,” he said.
Mr Mahama said the trust fund knew everybody who owed it because of the use of the Ghana Card.
“Currently, borrowers are around 280,000,” he disclosed.
Ghana Card
The introduction of the “No guarantor system”, he said, had led to an increase in enrolment, having cleared the barrier of looking for guarantors.
“Since the inception of the ‘No guarantor system’, the number has increased from 25,000 to 57,000 this year. First-time applicants were over 30,000,” he said.
In the case of teacher trainees, Mr Mahama said the SLTF had paid GH¢60 million that covered 67,000 trainees as allowance.
He said there was an outstanding of 1,500 students, who had challenges with their ezwich cards, among other issues. He said GH¢400 was given to each student per month.
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