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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
Mahama, told the Daily Graphic in Accra yesterday.
Mr Mahama said about GH¢15 million covered all the final-year students, with the rest going to the continuing students.
He expressed the hope that the organisation would disburse funds to the remaining continuing students by December this year.
He explained that about GH¢13 million of the money was recovered from debtors during the recovery or repayment month period in August this year.
Mr Mahama said the fund wanted to make the repayment month of August very relevant so that employers who had some debtors working with them would get them to pay.
During the repayment month, he said, the organisation undertook various programmes, including media interviews, engaging with employers, sending text messages and writing letters, through which it recouped some money.
Averagely, Mr Mahama said, the trust fund mobilised between GH¢90,000 and GH¢100,000 a day during the period and urged those still owing to settle their indebtedness with the SLTF to enable it to honour its obligations to other students.
He said the SLTF had targeted to recover GH¢80 million from debtors, a revision of last year’s GH¢75 million target.
"From January to date we have recouped about GH¢54 million. We still have some GH¢12 million with the Controller and Accountant General’s Department (CAGD)," Mr Mahama said, adding that, "by the end of the year we are expecting not less than GH¢20 million from Controller".
He explained that the CAGD deducted the money alright, but it took them three months to facilitate and gather all the money it had recouped from employees and transfer it to the fund.
“So, for the last quarter it has not brought the money,” he added.
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.
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.
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.
