A Career Development Loan is a specific bank loan that is designed to help an individual pay for career development learning. Paying back the loan starts the first month after the training in over.
It does not matter if you are employed, self-employed or unemployed if you are expecting to launch a new career or gain training, experience or qualifications the Career Development Loan or CDL can work for you. The Career Development loan is available because of a special arrangement between the three high street banks and the Learning and Skills Council or LSC.
The requirements to qualify for the Career Development Loan are as follow: you must be a resident in England, Wales or Scotland, you must be at least 18 year old, and you must intend to work in the European Union after your course is finished. You can borrow up to 8.000£ and you can agree with the bank on your payments plan. If you are a full time student you are entitled to 80% of courses fees and expenses, but if you have been unemployed for more than three months you are entitled to 100%.
If you are taking in consideration to apply for this kind of loan it is wise to apply well in advantage, knowing that it takes two to three weeks for the bank to answer. By doing this if your loan is refused by the bank that you applied to you will still have enough time to apply at a different bank. Another important fact about the request for the loan is to be sure of the amount you will be requesting. It is important for you to calculate your monthly living expenses, but also books and materials you may need and travel costs, and if the case costs associated with disability
A “Start Certificate” will have to be completed by you and your learning provider and be submitted to your bank for the funds to be released. The bank does not release any founds until your learning provider can confirm that you have started the course. Once the bank receives this confirmation the funds will be released as follows: the bank will pay the fees for the course directly to your learning provider and the funds for your other expenses will be sent directly into your bank account.
Now the interest on your loan while you are learning and one month after you finished is being paid by LSC, then you start repaying the loan over an agreed period at the fixed rate of interest.
If you believe you may not be able to repay the loan it is vital that you contact your bank. You can postpone the start of your payments to a maximum of 17 months if you are receiving a Training Allowance, or if you may have to extend the course or even if you are unemployed and are claiming benefits. In order for any of this to happen you must agree with the bank on these matters before your repayments would start.

In the unfortunate case in which you will be dissatisfied with the course or if you fail to complete the course or if the learning provider ceases trading you will still have to pay back the full amount of the loan. It is very important that you stay in contact with the bank and keep them informed of anything that would affect the time of your study and the start time of your payments.