Professional and Career Development loan
A Professional and Career Development Loan from The Co‑operative Bank helps to finance your studies and improve your career prospects.
- Borrow between £300 and £10,000 helping you fund a course to improve your career prospects and earning potential.
- The government pays the interest during your studies.
- Once you have completed your course, a fixed interest rate of 9.58% per annum will apply to your repayments.
- Repay your loan over 1 to 5 years, only paying it back after you've completed your course.
- Enjoy fixed repayments on your loan.
- When you complete your course, you'll be requested to make fixed monthly payments which includes interest payments - as stated in your agreement.
Representative example
Borrowing a loan amount of
£4,500
with a representative APR of
9.9% APR representative
and a fixed interest rate of
9.58% per annum
for a course that lasts
12 months
your monthly payments would be
£206.67
for a term of
2 years 0 months
and you would have to repay a total of
£4,960.08
To apply you need to:
- Be a single applicant aged 18 or over.
- Joint applicants are unable to apply for a Professional Career Development Loan.
- A UK citizen.
- Have been living in the UK for at least 3 years before your course starts.
- Not had any County Court Judgments (CCJs), entered into any Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs), or Trust Deeds, nor been declared bankrupt within the last 6 years.Not in arrears, and have not missed more than 2 payments on any credit agreement in the last six months.
- Plan to work in the UK, European Union (EU) or European Economic Area (EEA) after your course is completed.
- Unable to finance the course yourself, with reasonable or adequate access to funds.
Your course must:
- Start within 8 weeks from the date of your application, but no later than the 24th March 2019.
- Only last up to 2 years, or 3 years if it includes 1 year of work experience.
- Be provided by an organisation on the Professional and Career Development Loan Register - check with your course provider.
- Improve your chances of employability, or, if you already have a job, your career prospects. However, your course doesn't necessarily have to lead to a qualification.
Costs covered by the loan:
- All of your course fees, or 80% of the fees if you're also in employment
- Other essential course costs, i.e. books, equipment, travel expenses, childcare and any costs associated with a disability
- Living expenses – cost of food, clothing, housing, fuel, council tax (unless you work more than 30 hours a week)
Ready to apply?
Professional and Career Development Loans will close to new borrowers in 2019. The final date for submitted applications will be Friday, 25 January 2019, with a course start date no later than the 24th March 2019. Existing loans will not be affected.
Apply online with the Student Bursary Support Service or call the National Career Service for further advice on 0800 100 900.
Calls are free from landlines and mobiles. Calls may be monitored or recorded for security and training purposes.
Please read our terms and conditions before applying
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Affording the loan
Before taking out a loan you should first consider whether you can afford to repay it. A fixed amount is payable each month, so make sure you can afford the repayments.
Setting the length of the loan
When choosing the length of the term to repay your loan over, it's important to consider that the longer the term, the greater the total interest payable will be.
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This loan can be used to help finance a range of courses lasting up to 2 years (or 3 years if the course includes a year of work experience) to enhance your career prospects.
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The rate for a Professional and Career Development Loan is 9.9% APR representative on loans from £300 to £10,000.
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A breakdown of charges and fees involved with having a loan.
Application fee
We don't believe in application fees. That's why we'll never charge you for taking out a loan.
Late payment fees
Interest will continue to accrue on the outstanding balance which remains unpaid from when it is due. This will be charged at the annual interest rate for your loan.
Partial and full early repayment charges
If you wish to, you can repay your loan at any time. If your loan was taken out after 10th June 2010 you can also make partial repayments to your loan (in addition to your regular monthly payments).
If you repay your loan early (in part or in full) and the term was one year or less
we may charge you 28 days additional interest.
However, if your loan term exceeded one year when it was made
we may charge you 58 days additional interest.
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How much you'll pay
A fixed amount will be payable each month for the duration of your loan. Repayments will commence one month after your course has ended.
Seeing your repayments
If you wish to, you can repay your loan at any time. If your loan was taken out after 10th June 2010 you can also make partial repayments to your loan (in addition to your regular monthly payments). To arrange this, please contact us and we will give you an early settlement figure.
Paying off early
If you wish to, you can repay your loan at any time. If your loan was taken out after 10th June 2010 you can also make partial repayments to your loan (in addition to your regular monthly payments). To arrange this, please contact us and we will give you an early settlement figure.
If you repay your loan early in full or in part we may charge you:
- 28 days additional interest if your loan agreement was for a term of a year or less at the time it was made, or
- 58 days additional interest if your loan agreement was for a term of more than a year at the time it was made.
To apply you need to:
- Be a single applicant aged 18 or over.
- Joint applicants are unable to apply for a Professional Career Development Loan.
- A UK Citizen
- Have been living in the UK for at least 3 years before your course starts.
- Not had any County Court Judgments (CCJs), entered into any Individual Voluntary Arrangements (IVAs), or Trust Deeds, nor been declared bankrupt within the last 6 years.
- Not in arrears, and have not missed more than 2 payments on any credit agreement in the last six months.
- Plan to work in the UK, European Union (EU) or European Economic Area (EEA) after your course is completed.
- Unable to finance the course yourself, with reasonable or adequate access to funds.
Your course must:
- Start within 8 weeks from the date of your application, but no later than the 24th March 2019.
- Only last up to 2 years, or 3 years if it includes 1 year of work experience.
- Be provided by an organisation on the Professional and Career Development Loan Register - check with your course provider.
- Improve your chances of employability, or, if you already have a job, your career prospects. However, your course doesn't necessarily have to lead to a qualification.
Costs covered by the loan:
- All of your course fees, or 80% of the fees if you're also in employment
- Other essential course costs, i.e. books, equipment, travel expenses, childcare and any costs associated with a disability
- Living expenses – cost of food, clothing, housing, fuel, council tax (unless you work more than 30 hours a week)
Ready to apply?
Professional and Career Development Loans will close to new borrowers in 2019. The final date for submitted applications will be Friday, 25 January 2019, with a course start date no later than the 24th March 2019. Existing loans will not be affected.
Apply online with the Student Bursary Support Service or call the National Career Service for further advice on 0800 100 900
Calls are free from landlines and mobiles. Calls may be monitored or recorded for security and training purposes.
Important documents
Personal loan summary information
Download Personal loan summary information PDF (309KB)Terms and conditions
Download Terms and conditions PDF (286KB)Repaying your loan early information
Download Repaying your loan early information PDF (34KB)How we use your personal information
Download How we use your personal information PDF (622KB)Our lending commitments and what we ask of you
Download Our lending commitments and what we ask of you PDF (115KB)APR (Annual Percentage Rate)
APR is the interest rate calculated across the lifetime of your agreement, including any fees (total cost of credit). You can use it to compare the cost of similar products from other lenders.
Representative
Lending decisions are based on personal circumstances, so the rates we offer may vary between customers. When we advertise our products, we use representative rates to show what the majority of customers may be offered.
Fixed interest rate
The percentage rate charged on a loan is fixed which means you can be sure it won't go up during the duration of your loan.
Per annum
Per annum is a quicker way of saying 'for each year'.APR (Annual Percentage Rate)
APR is the interest rate calculated across the lifetime of your agreement, including any fees (total cost of credit). You can use it to compare the cost of similar products from other lenders.
Per annum
Per annum is a quicker way of saying 'for each year'.
Representative
Lending decisions are based on personal circumstances, so the rates we offer may vary between customers. When we advertise our products, we use representative rates to show what the majority of customers may be offered.
Variable
When a rate is advertised as variable, it means that it could go up or down.
Interest rate
This is the percentage rate charged on a loan.
Fixed interest rate
The percentage rate charged on a loan is fixed which means you can be sure it won't go up during the duration of your loan.
- If you have savings of more than £16,000 available, you will not be eligible for this loan.
- A list of course providers will be provided on the application, however if your course provider is not available on the list, you can make representation to the Skills Funding Agency. Please contact them on 0800 100 900.
Contact us
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