Professional and Career Loan

To be eligible for the Career Development Loan, you must:

• Be aged 18 or over
• Be ordinarily resident in the UK (England, Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales)
• Have unlimited right to remain in the UK
• Intend to work in the European Union (EU), Iceland, Norway or Liechtenstein once you've finished your course
• Not have reasonable or adequate access to funds to pay for the course yourself
• Be studying full or part-time in an approved vocational course

You should apply for your loan up to three months before your course starts as we may not be able to make a decision on your loan straight away. Certain times of the year – for example, the start of the academic year in September / October – are particularly busy and it may be a number of weeks before we can advise you about your loan application.

The Young People’s Learning Agency and Barclays are unable to accept responsibility for any inadequacy or unsuitability of the education or training you receive. They do not approve courses or providers, nor do they have any special arrangements with individual providers.

When considering your application for borrowing, your financial circumstances will be appraised.

What you need to know:

• You can borrow from £300 up to £10,000
• Your payments remain fixed when the loan is agreed
• Interest-free for up to one month after the end of the course. After the interest holiday, the rate is 9.9%
• You pay back nothing until two months after your course ends
• You can repay the loan over a period of 12 to 60 months

Representative example:

Subject to application and status.

Key information

• You can borrow between £300 and £10,000.
• You can repay over 12 to 60 months.
• Your replayments remain fixed when the loan is agreed.
• The loan funds will be provided on a staged payment basis. This will only apply to the course element of the loan, for course fees over £1,000 and where the course length is over three months.
• The funds required for living expenses will be paid in a lump sum at the outset of the loan.
• The staged payment matrix is shown below:

Staged payment matrix

Staged payments

For example: If you are borrowing a total of £5,000 for a 20 month course and an additional £2,000 for living expenses, the £5,000 required to pay for the course will be provided to the learning provider on a staged payment basis at months 1, 6, 12 and 18.

The payments will be split evenly between each of the payment stages. The £2,000 required for living expenses will be provided as a lump sum to you at the outset of the loan. The course fee payments will be released to your learning provider as follows:

Month 1 – £1,250
Month 6 – £1,250
Month 12 – £1,250
Month 18 – £1,250

Repayments

Representative 5.7% APR variable.

The interest you receive will be based on your personal circumstances, your course duration, the amount you chose to borrow and the repayment period. The representative APR reflects the overall rate charged, including the period in which you make no repayments.

For example: If your 21 month course starts on 1 December 2010, you will get a 22 month interest holiday. Thereafter interest will be charged at the equivalent nominal rate of 9.9%. Repayments will commence on 1 November 2012, giving you a two month repayment holiday following completion of your course. If you borrow £3,000 over 60 months to fund the 21 month course, the following interest and repayments will apply:

Representative example

Key information for a Professional and Career Development Loan from £300 to £10,000

5.7% APR Representative

The interest rate per annum shown below applies to all loans but the APR for your loan will depend upon the length of your repayment period.

APR ranges

Interest charging information
No interest will be charged for the period from the start of your loan agreement until one month before the first monthly payment is due. From then on, interest at a rate of 9.9% per annum will be calculated daily on the balance outstanding and debited to your loan account quarterly in arrears until the loan is repaid in full.

Repayment information
Payment is by monthly standing order.

First monthly repayment is due two months after the course of training is expected to end. If we receive notification from you or we become aware that you are no longer attending the course we may give you 30 days written notice to nominate a new date on which repayments shall begin.

Repayment period
Loans are available for repayment over one to five years (12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 48, 54 or 60 monthly repayments).

By spreading your loan over a longer term, your monthly repayments may be lower, but the overall cost of borrowing may be higher.

Amount of loan available
Loans are available from £300 to £10,000.

Application/arrangement fee
No application or arrangement fees.

Other fees
Not applicable.

Default fees
We may charge you for any costs or losses we incur as a result of you breaking your loan agreement.

Early settlement
No early settlement fee.

If you run into difficulties with your repayments, please call us immediately and we will be happy to help.