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An image to illustrate paying by monthly instalments with OUSBA
A loan from the Open University Student Budget Accounts Ltd (OUSBA) is a convenient way to pay your course fees and finish your qualification without further debt.
When you enrol with us, we’ll offer you the opportunity to pay your fees through a loan from OUSBA. If you choose this option, OUSBA pays your module fees to the OU on your behalf, and you repay OUSBA either in a single sum or in monthly instalments, as you prefer.
You can repay OUSBA any time before the module begins. In this case, there’s no interest. We call this option ‘register now, pay later’.
Alternatively, you can repay OUSBA in monthly instalments payable over up to a year. In this case, interest does apply. The interest rate is calculated on the amount you borrow and is fixed for the duration of the agreement. The current representative APR is 5.1%. We call this ‘paying by instalments’.
An OUSBA agreement is a legally binding credit agreement between you and OUSBA Ltd. By signing this agreement, you’ll be liable for the repayments in accordance with its terms and conditions.
As a responsible lender, every application made to OUSBA undergoes a credit and affordability check to ensure you can meet your financial obligations.
Many students find OUSBA a convenient ‘pay as you go’ option.
If you're eligible for a postgraduate loan from Student Finance England, your funding is paid in instalments – but only after you've paid your tuition fees, and no sooner than two weeks after the module starts. That means you'll need to cover your fees upfront before your loan comes through.
An OUSBA postgraduate linked loan bridges that gap. It covers your tuition fees so you can register straightaway, and use your government loan instalments to make OUSBA repayments as they arrive – with smaller interest-only payments in between.
If you feel you wouldn’t be able to obtain an OUSBA loan on your own due to credit history or affordability issues, OUSBA offers the option to apply for a joint loan application with a third party, i.e. partner, spouse, parent, sibling, friend, etc. In such cases, OUSBA will be required to carry out additional affordability checks separately and/or collectively for both joint applicants, who will be jointly and individually liable for loan repayments. Representative APR is 5.1%.
Unfortunately, as additional affordability checks are required to process joint loan applications, an instant decision cannot be given. On average, the processing time for a joint loan application is five working days from receipt of the required documentation.
Open University Student Budget Accounts Limited is a subsidiary firm of The Open University.
Open University Student Budget Accounts Ltd, PO Box 508, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6HX.
I funded my course using OUSBA, which was absolutely brilliant as it meant I could pay for it in monthly instalments and didn’t have to worry about paying upfront or taking out a student loan and ending up in debt.
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