One month before school starts, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board has notified college financial aid offices that the “B on Time” student loan program doesn’t have enough funding this year to go around.  In fact, they are $8 million short from last year.  The program, aimed at middle and upper-middle class students, offers state-sponsored, interest free loans that are forgiven provided the student graduates on time with at least a B average.

Last year, Texas spent $49 million on these loans, enough to cover 12,800 students.  This year, however, only an estimated $41million is available, enough for only 9,900 students.  All over Texas, thousands of incoming freshmen are now hearing the bad news.  Also, some 650 students who received the loans last year won’t be getting them renewed.  The state’s two biggest campuses, The University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M University, have already sent out hundreds of notices to those that have lost out on the funding they were promised.  Right now, around 700 incoming freshmen have been notified by UT and more than 100 this week by A&M.  College financial aid officers are now trying to offer these students alternative loans, but unlike the interest-free “B on Time” loans, the others can charge about 6 or 8 percent with no forgiveness.

Some campuses, like UT-Dallas, never made promises to students in order to avoid disappointment because they were never confident that the money would be available.  About 400 students were eligible for the loans at UT-Dallas, but were never notified with letters.  In a different approach at UT-Arlington, around 500 students signed a waiting list for the “B on Time” loans, acknowledging a possible fluctuation of the state-sponsored student aid.  The number of students awarded loans is, after all, subject to the amount of funding.

Sure enough, the amount of funding and number of students awarded has fluctuated considerably since the program started in 2003.  With this record, the shortage shouldn’t have been totally unexpected.  Though, it is still disappointing for the thousands of hopeful students that were promised the money. Especially considering tuition at public, four-year colleges has risen about 40 percent since 2003.

The fact those students and their families were not given notice of the shortcomings far enough in advance is what is most disheartening, since they now have only a short time to find alternative funds.

The country’s largest lender, the State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday said it will shortly raise car and other personal loan rates, excluding housing and education, by an average of 0.75 per cent.

We have announced hike in benchmark prime lending rates by 75 basis points…Consequently, we will be raising rates of all (personal) loans, except for housing and education, by 75 basis points on an average, SBI MD Ashok Aggarwal told reporters on the sidelines of the launch of electronic system for excise and service taxes.

He, however, clarified that some loan rates may rise by one per cent and some by 0.50 per cent, but the average would be 0.75 per cent. The interest rate hike would be announced in a few days, he added.

Aggarwal’s statement came amid reports that icici and kotak are increasing auto interest rates by 0.75-1 per cent this weekend. Pursuant to increase in cash reserve ratio by the reserve bank, sbi had announced 0.75 per cent in its benchmark prime lending rate to 12.25 per cent last month.

However, all the existing housing and educational loans as well as new educational loans up to rs 4 lakh are excluded from the hike. Similarly, all the existing and future agriculture production loans less than rs three lakh are excluded from its impact.

With a view to prevent the bank from charging excessive interest rates on personal loans, the Reserve Bank of India on Monday asked all commercial banks to fix a ceiling on rates and processing charges to be levied on borrowers.

“An appropriate ceiling may be fixed on the interest, including processing and other charges that could be levied on such loans, which may be suitably publicised”, the RBI said in a communication to chief executives of the banks.

The RBI has given banks three months to comply with its directives issued in pursuance of the annual credit policy to prevent banks from charging very high rates, which are neither sustainable nor in conformity with the normal banking practice.

The RBI further said the total cost to the borrower, including interest and all other charges levied on a loan, should be justifiable having regard to the total cost incurred by the bank in extending the loan.

The bank boards, the RBI said, should prescribe appropriate internal guidelines and procedures so that usurious interest, including processing and other charges, are not levied on loans and advances in respect of small value loans, particularly personal loans and other loans of similar nature.

The prior-approval process for sanctioning loans, the central bank said, should include factors like cash flow of prospective borrowers, risk premium as considered reasonable and justifiable, internal rating of borrower and presence or absence of security.

If you’re planning an MBA from any of the IIMs or Indian School of Business besides enrolling for a coaching class, you might do well to spend some time thinking how you are going to fund these courses. Given the steep fees at these institutes, you might have to avail of an educational loan. And while this might conjure up images of endless paperwork and several trips to the bank, the truth is that it is rather easy.

All you need is your parents’ signatures as guarantors and in 3-4 days, the bank could well have disbursed your loan. Once you are in the loan market, there are plenty of deals. Some extra leg-work might be useful in helping you get discounts, which could help save on a sizeable sum.

The British Bankers Association has expressed that, after sharp increase in March, consumer lending has become more firm. However, unsecured personal loan lending has shown a rise of £ 0.3 million, but this was still less than monthly rise of £ 0.4 million in last six months. There was any rise in lending in the month of April.

The British Bankers Association (BBA) has said that consumer lending has become stable, after sharp increase shown in March. Unsecured personal loan lending had shown an increase of £ 0.3 million, but this was still below the monthly rise of £ 0.4 million in last six months. There was no rise in lending during April. Credit card lending has shown a substantial growth rising by £ 0.3 billion in comparison with the average rise by £ 0.1 billion .David Dooks BBA director of statistics said that though credit card lending was much in demand that has to be seen against the rare net repayment that has been observed in March. He further told that consumer lending appeared steady. Personal deposits rose slowly than most recently. But this was the response to the unusual rise in March.

The figures are overall overview of the picture of lending and the loans in the UK as they are gathered by examining statistics provided by major British Banking Groups including Lloyds, TSB, HSBC, Barclays and The Royal Bank of Scotland.