Lilongwe, March 27, 2016: Government, through the Higher Education Students’ Loans and Grants Board (HESL&GB) has embarked on the recovery of students’ loans that were accessed between 1985 and 2012.
A statement from the Board urges all loan beneficiaries within the said period to verify with the Board’s Secretariate on the status of their loans and agree on the modalities of repayment.
The Board has set twelve months from April 2016 as a period for the matured loans to be repaid in full so as to meet the evergrowing demand for loans to finance higher education for needy and deserving students.
“…The Board will do all it can to recover all the overdue students’ loans which are public funds expected to develop into a revolving fund that will benefit all the upcoming generations of our nation,” reads the statement in part.
The statement further says the Secretariat of the Board will contact and interface with all the employers specifically their Human Resources departments and the professional bodies as they trace the former beneficiaries towards the recovery of the loans.
According to the statement, failure by an employer to disclose the existence of the former students’ loans beneficiaries under their employment will attract a penalty fee of MWK1 million for each employee in line with theHESL&GB Act Section 30, subsection 1.
The Board says cash or cheque payments should be deposited into the Board’s Malawi Savings Bank Account No. 202 3936146 001, Account Name: Student Loans Collection Account, held at City Centre Branch or National Bank Account No. 1002261808, Account Name: Higher Education Loans Recovery Account, held at City Centre Branch, whichever of the two banks is closer to your locality.
For bank transfers and direct deposits, the Board says it shall require a copy of the deposit slip completed with details of loan beneficiary name, institution where they studied, period of study, student registration number and current contact address and phone number which can be scanned and get emailed to loans.recovery@heslgb.com or sent by post through Private Bag B417, Lilongwe.
