Foreign students resort to private lenders
Foreign students resort to private lenders
By Pradip Rodrigues
NEW CANADIAN MEDIA
Private financiers are stepping into the gap left by regulated banks to support international students who can’t bear living expenses, charging as high as 14 per cent interest.
December 19, 2023
When Gulam Shah*, a Masters-level student of chemical engineering at Dalhousie University, Halifax, lost a scholarship after switching programs, he came perilously close to going back home. It was a private lender that came to his rescue.
“At first I tried getting a bank loan but could not find anyone willing to cosign my loan,” he said. Shah was able to secure a loan from MPOWER Financing, a U.S.-based international student loan company, to complete his program. He currently has a part-time job and says he’s confident he can pay back the loan once he lands full-time employment.
Comments (0)