West Bengal Student Credit Card Scheme

Brief Description:

West Bengal Student Credit Card Scheme covers the educational expenses of students both within and outside India.

Furthermore, students enrolled in coaching institutions for various competitive examinations such as engineering, Medicine, Law, Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), West Bengal Civil Service (WBCS), and others are also eligible to avail loans under this program.

The loans are provided by State Cooperative Banks, affiliated Central Cooperative Banks, District Central Cooperative Banks, as well as Public Sector and Private Sector Banks operating in West Bengal.

Under this scheme, the interest is calculated on a simple interest basis, which means it is applied only to the initial loan amount without compounding. This reduced interest rate remains constant throughout the entire duration of their educational loan.

Eligibility

To be eligible for the student credit card scheme, students must meet certain criteria:

Citizenship: The student should be an Indian national and a resident of West Bengal for the past 10 years.
- A self-declaration by the student, provided in the application form, will be accepted as residential proof.
Enrollment for Higher Studies: The student must have enrolled in higher studies, either within or outside the country, in various educational institutions such as schools, madrasahs, colleges, universities, and prestigious institutes like IITs, IIMs, IISc, IIESTs, ISIs, NLUs, AIIMSs, NITs, XLRI, BITS, SPA, NID, IIFTs, ICFAI Business School, etc.
Age Limit: Applicants for the loan must be below the age of 40 at the time of submitting their application.

Important Note: For detailed eligibility criteria of the scheme, please visit the official notification by the Government of West Bengal, Higher Education Department.

Benefits:

Education loan upto INR 10 lakh

The scheme offers loans at an interest rate of 4% per annum with an additional rate of 1.5% per annum.
- The additional interest rate of 1.5% will be charged if the borrower fails to make timely interest payments throughout their period of study.
The interest rate applies to the entire loan amount sanctioned up to INR 10 lakh.
Girl students will receive an additional concession of 0.5% per annum in the interest rate.
The interest is calculated at a *simple interest rate.
The state government provides appropriate interest rate subvention for all borrowers throughout the loan period.

Important Note :*Simple Interest Rate – It is calculated as a percentage of the principal amount for the entire duration of the loan without considering any additional factors. The interest is calculated based on the original loan amount and remains constant throughout the loan tenure.

The disbursement of the loan under the scheme follows the following modes:

Course and Institution-Related Fees – The loan amount for payment of course fees and other fees related to the institution will be directly credited to the designated account of the respective educational institution. This ensures that the fee is paid directly to the institution on behalf of the student.
Personal Expenses and Purchases – For expenses related to purchasing a computer, laptop, books, stationery, and meeting living expenses, the loan amount will be credited to the student’s bank account. This allows students to have direct access to the funds for managing their personal expenses and making necessary purchases.

The repayment period for any loan availed under the student credit card scheme, including the moratorium is set at 15 years. This allows borrowers a substantial time frame to repay the loan.
As per the scheme, students can repay their loans in Equated Monthly Installments (EMI)/ monthly installments.
If the students fully service the interest during the study period, an interest concession of 1% will be provided.
The student or co-borrower assumes primary responsibility for repaying the loan on time. They hold the first charge in terms of repayment liability.

Documents

The following documents are required to be uploaded during the online application process:

Coloured Photograph – The applicant needs to upload a coloured photograph in jpg format. The file size should be between 20 kb to 50 KB.
Coloured Photograph of the Co-Applicant– A coloured photograph of the co-applicant should be uploaded in .jpeg/.jpg format. The file size should be between 20 kb and 50 kb.
Signature of the Student – Students are required to upload their signature in jpg format. The file size should be between 10 kb and 50 kb. The background of the signature colour should be white.
Guardian’s Signature – The signature of the guardian should be uploaded in jpg format. The file size should be between 10 kb and 50 kb. The background of the signature colour should be white.
Student’s Adhaar Card – Students need to upload their Adhaar Card in pdf format. The file size should be between 50 kb and 400 kb.
Age Proof of the Applicant – The applicant must provide age proof, which should be uploaded in pdf format. The file size should be between 50 kb and 400 kb.
Address Proof of Co-Applicant – The co-applicant needs to provide address proof, which should be uploaded in pdf format. The file size should be between 50 kb and 400 kb.
Admission Receipt – An admission receipt should be uploaded in pdf format. The file size should be between 50 kb and 400 kb.
Student’s and Guardian’s PAN Card – Students and guardians must upload their PAN Card or submit an undertaking if they do not have a PAN Card. The document should be uploaded in pdf format with a file size between 50 kb and 400 kb.
Marksheet of Last Qualifying Exam – The applicant needs to upload the marksheet or certificate of their last qualifying exam in pdf format. The file size should be between 50 kb and 400 kb.

Note: All the documents must be uploaded in the prescribed format only.

Apply Here:

https://wbscc.wb.gov.in/Applicant_Registration

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