FirstBank Targets Disbursement of N15bn to Private Schools

• FirstBank Targets Disbursement of N15bn to Private Schools

With the beginning of another school term and as students return to school after the long holidays, FirstBank of Nigeria Limited at the weekend disclosed that it had set aside N15billion through its various product offerings for private schools in Nigeria.

The bank said it remained committed to supporting schools with their business requirements to enhance preparations for the school year.

According to a statement, FirstBank had developed an array of products and solutions targeted at enabling schools acquire attractive educational facilities to support their business whilst empowering parents and guardians to seamlessly send their wards back to school.

It stated that FirstBank’s educational products and solutions include the FirstEdu Loan, Operational Vehicle Loan, Term Loans for constructing new sites and extension of existing sites, Personal Loan against Salary (PLAS) and Salary Overdraft (SODA) which enhances Parents/Guardians’ capacity to pay their wards’ school fees.

The FirstEdu loan is targeted at private nursery, secondary and A-Levels schools. The product offers opportunity for private schools to access flexible funding to meet urgent cash flow needs, replace old furniture and equipment, as well as refurbish dilapidated buildings and classroom blocks.

“With this product, school owners/proprietors can stay ahead of competition in providing educational services and support to the target population by maintaining acceptable standard infrastructure at all times.

“This product allows the customer access up to N10 million with no tangible collateral required apart from the domiciliation of school account with the bank. This reduces the cost of borrowing to the customer and eliminates the challenges posed by the provision of additional demanding collaterals,” it explained.

According to the statement, the Operational Vehicle Loan is targeted at registered businesses. It allows the entrepreneur to acquire brand new vehicles for the day to day operation of the business, the bank stated.

It pointed out that organisations can take advantage of this facility to purchase school buses in the case of school proprietors and even upscale their staff welfare schemes through provision of staff buses.

In the same vein, the Personal Loan against Salary (PLAS) offers customers in paid employment access to cash to meet immediate financial needs such as payment of school fees, medical treatment, holiday expenses, etc.

PLAS has a flexible repayment plan spread up to 48 months for customers’ convenience. There is no equity contribution or collateral requirement. The Salary Overdraft Account (SODA) is also available to customers who want short tenured overdraft to meet immediate financial needs. SODA can be dispensed as a one-off overdraft for 30 days with up to 40 per cent net salary and a revolving overdraft for 180 days with 25 per cent of applicant’s average previous three months net salary.