FirstBank offers educational products to schools

By The Citizen

As students resume after the long holidays, First Bank of Nigeria Limited, is set to support schools with their educational requirements to enhance preparations for the school year. In a statement, the lender announced that it had developed an array of products and solutions targeted at enabling schools acquire attractive educational facilities to support their business whilst empowering parents and guardians to seamlessly send their wards back to school.

The lender's educational products and solutions include the FirstEdu Loan, Operational Vehicle Loan, Commercial Mortgage, Personal Loan against Salary (PLAS) and Salary Overdraft (SODA) which enhances Parents/ Guardians' capacity to pay their wards' school fees. According to the statement : 'The First- Edu loan is targeted at private Nursery, Secondary and A-Levels schools.

The product offers opportunity for private schools to access flexible funding to meet urgent cash flow needs, replace old furniture and equipment, as well as refurbish dilapidated buildings and classroom blocks.

'With this product, school owners/proprietors can stay ahead of competition in providing educational services and support to the target population by maintaining acceptable standard infrastructure at all times.

This product allows the customer access up to N10 million with no tangible collateral required apart from the domiciliation of school account with the Bank. This reduces the cost of borrowing to the customer and eliminates the challenges posed by the provision of additional demanding collaterals,' it stated.

It further stated that the Operational Vehicle Loan, which is targeted at registered businesses allows an entrepreneur to acquire brand new vehicles for the day to day operation of the business.

The lender said: 'Organisations can take advantage of this facility to purchase school buses in the case of school proprietors and even upscale their staff welfare schemes through provision of staff buses. The organisation can access up to N10 million, for a single transaction, with flexible repayment plan spread over 36 months.

The minimum equity contribution is 30per cent and the purchased vehicle doubles as collateral for the loan.' Another loan offered by the bank include the Personal Loan against Salary (PLAS), which offers customers in paid employment access to cash to meet immediate financial needs such as payment of school fees, medical treatment and holiday expenses.

The bank stressed that its educational facilities are offered without collaterals and urged customers and stakeholders to visit any of its branches for further information about its school solutions.