The Students Loan Trust Fund (SLTF) has implemented a "No Guarantor" policy for student loans.
Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, who announced the new program at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), said he anticipates increased access to student loans for tertiary students each academic year.
Prior to the policy's establishment, students had to get a guarantor before their loan applications could be granted.
Many students who required loans to pay for their university education found this to be a big impediment.
The Student Loan Trust Fund (SLTF) has implemented a "No Guarantor" policy for student loans.
According to SLTF data, the Fund is only able to help fewer than 10% of the qualifying student population, owing to the difficulty in securing guarantors.
As a result of the new policy, the fund's administrators anticipate a considerable rise in loan applications.
In his speech, Nana Kwaku Agyei Yeboah, CEO of the SLTF, remarked, "With the abolition of the guarantor requirement, we have put higher education within the grasp of hundreds of thousands of students nationally."
To get a loan, candidates must fill out an online form and submit their Ghana ID cards for biometric verification.
The guarantor requirement was included in the loan application procedure to help the fund's administrators reclaim the loans when they became due.
Guarantors played a crucial part in the SLTF's efforts to track down borrowers.
When debtors defaulted, the guarantors were relied upon in some situations. to pay off the loan
Despite the fact that guarantors have been highly beneficial in putting pressure on borrowers to return their loans and in identifying borrowers who did not want to be identified, guarantors only have to pay out the amount in around 6% of situations.
The Fund's administrators are satisfied that the data on the Ghana card, as well as its connection with the SSNIT and tax identification numbers, as well as links to other databases, eliminates the need for guarantors in its operations.