Study Fund already up and running at eight schools. Intesa is going it alone

Pending the planned expansion of the range of services on offer, the banks currently offering student loans via the Study Fund managed by Consap are: Unicredit, Banco Bpm, Banca Sella, Banca Popolare di Puglia e Basilicata, Cassa di Risparmio di Bolzano, Banca di Cividale, Banca Popolare Pugliese and Banco di Credito P. Azzoaglio.

The proposals are in line with current legislation regarding general terms and conditions and the amounts payable. Differences arise in terms of costs and repayment periods. With regard to the former, the proposals provide for a (fixed) IRS rate linked to the duration of the repayment period, plus a spread that varies from bank to bank and ranges from 1% to 3.85% (all terms and conditions are available on the Consap website). In most cases, however, there are no application fees.

The picture is more complex when it comes to repayment schedules and the methods of amortisation of interest and principal. In the case of Banca Sella’s product, which has a maximum term of ten years, repayments begin 30 months after the final instalment has been disbursed. During the ‘bridge’ (or pre-amortisation) period, the student pays nothing, not even the interest, which is typically repaid during the pre-amortisation phase. Interest and capital are repaid solely during the amortisation period. For Unicredit’s ‘Prestito Fondo per lo Studio’, the loan is disbursed in one or more annual instalments, ranging from 3,000 to 15,000 euros, whilst repayment of the principal is deferred, with amortisation commencing after the pre-amortisation period. Banco BPM’s ‘Student Loan’ provides for a 30-month pre-amortisation period and a flexible repayment term ranging from 36 to 150 months.

Apart from the offers related to Fondo Studio, a unique initiative in the private sector is that of Intesa Sanpaolo, which in 2019 launched ‘per Merito’, an honour loan designed for university students enrolled on master’s degrees, ITS courses and advanced training programmes. The initiative is made possible by Intesa Sanpaolo’s Fund for Impact, the group’s dedicated provision fund for credit inclusion, which enables students to be financed without requiring collateral or family guarantees. The product provides access to loans of up to 75,000 euros, with repayment terms that can begin up to two years after graduation and last for up to 30 years. “Since the launch of the initiative, 50,000 students have already benefited from Intesa Sanpaolo’s support, with more than one billion euros in loans disbursed,” emphasises Claudia Vassena, Executive Director of Sales & Marketing Digital Retail at Intesa Sanpaolo.