Study Loan Situation In Germany
Posted by Andrew M. Nicola | Filed under Finance
Since early 2005, when new rules regarding the tuition fees were set by the Constitutional Court, alternative loan schemes in Germany have been developed. Until that time some banks had already presented plans for student loans (German: Studentenkredite). Long after the DKB (Deutsche Kredit Bank) had implemented the first academic credit supply together with Career Concept, the world’s first provider of educational funds, in October 2005 also the Deutsche Bank began to offer student loans. Meanwhile, there are several offers from other private and public banks, including the KfW.
The “dbStudentenKredit” offered by the Deutsche Bank can be granted to all students at German universities, not considering their particular study area. But the age is limited to 30 years. A further condition for the grant of a “dbStudentenKredit” the credit is the complete study preparation and plan. All topics that a student intends to study should be included in this and furthermore career plans should be summed up. Moreover, the bank requests information regarding the creditworthiness of the students from the Schufa book that contains the financial details of German citizens. Those information supply the credit institutes with a some security.
During the 1st and 2nd Semester one can get up to 200 Euros a month for living expenses and education fees. At a further stage the maximum amount of money is 800 Euros monthly. The rate of interest changes from time to time. After a student has finished studying the sum that has to be paid back is fixed by a new contract. During the first year after going off from university no repayments need to be made. The students have 12 years to reimburse the loan (Studentenkredit). Surely it is also possible to repay the total amount of money in one go.
The Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau (Credit Institute for Reconstruction), was created shortly after the 2nd World War with the goal of supporting the restoration of the German country. Since April 2006, also the KfW bank offers a student loan for people studing for their first degree.
The KfW Student Loan (Studentenkredite) does not require a background check, however, it is not granted in the case of a personal bankruptcy. It is open to all German students (also EU foreigners) for all state-recognized universities available, unless the applicant has not yet completed his studies and not yet reached an age of 31. From the 1rst of April 2009 the interest rate is 4.28 percent nominal.
Find out more about the student loan (German: Studentenkredit)situation in Germany and go to my blog about Studentenkredit. Various possibilities of student funding in Germany discussed further.
Tags: education, Finance, loans, student loans, students, studies, study, studying, university
