CONNECTING PROSPECTS TO STUDENT HERO 

Applicants are referred by the Educational Institution's representative to either a specific Student Hero account manager or by having the prospect complete the online application on Student Hero's or the EI’s website. 

Student Hero account managers use the following in and outbound communication channels: Email, Whatsapp and Telephone.

Student Hero always kicks off the facilitation process with an introductory phone call to the client on the contact number provided to us. Prospects are contacted within 2 hours of us receiving the contact details or online application. If an applicant can not be reached telephonically, an email or Whatsapp is sent to the client containing a hyperlink to schedule a callback from the Student Hero agent at the client’s convenience.

The Student Hero account manager will first assist the client with any inquiries and if the client is happy to proceed then we'll request from the client the Minimum Required Information (MRI) to complete the Student Hero pre-qualification. 

Complete applications are Credit Checked and informed about the outcome and the way forward for their funding application. It can take up to one to two business days for a client to provide their Minimum Required Information (MRI). Most clients provide their MRI during the initial phone call.

The Minimum Required Information (MRI) to attend to the Pre-qualification are as follows:

1. Customer’s Name and Surname

2. Sponsor’s ID Number

3. Sponsor’s Gross Income

4. Sponsor’s Net Income (at least R5000 p/m)

5. Joint-household income 

6. Loan Amount

7. Consent to do Credit Report  

The Sponsor is the person applying for the loan on the student’s behalf. The Sponsor has to be someone with full-time employment, a reasonable Credit Score and sufficient affordability to repay the loan.  It can be one of the student’s parents or anyone who is willing to support the student with obtaining tertiary education. The student can only apply for funding in their own name if currently employed and will remain employed while studying.

If the student’s initial sponsor does not meet the minimum criteria, the student/sponsor is requested to identify a new sponsor for the loan application (the initial sponsor’s application will be declined and closed by us).

The Student Hero facilitation process consists of 16 stages and it takes between 5 - 15 business days from the first contact with the prospect to the loan being paid out to the EI. The turnaround time mostly depends on the client’s cooperation and ease of access to the required information and documentation to put together a complete student loan application. To appreciate why certain applications might spend more time in a stage than what is provided for in the estimated turnaround time, it is essential to understand what is required from the client in the relevant stage and the steps taken by the Student Hero agent in each stage to drive the application toward completion.

1. INQUIRY

The inquiry stage contains clients whose contact details were provided to us by the Educational Institution and from who we are awaiting their MRI. We follow up with clients in the Inquiry stage every 2nd day for the first week after receiving the lead, twice in the second week and once a week thereafter for 4 weeks. 

2. NEW LEAD 

(1 day)

Responsive clients from the Inquiry stage are moved to the New Lead stage from where we collect their MRI. A Student Hero pre-qualification is attended to within 10mins after receiving the client’s MRI. The Student Hero pre-qualification is essential to assess the Sponsor’s likelihood of succeeding with the loan application (before putting the client through the effort of visiting a bank) and to determine into which Funder’s qualifying criteria the application fits best. Each Funder has unique qualifying criteria and pricing structure. It is possible for an applicant to qualify for funding from more than one funder in which instance the better offer enjoys preference.

3. INSUFFICIENT INFORMATION

(2 days)

An application is moved from stage 2. NEW LEAD to 3. INSUFFICIENT INFORMATION if we need to supplement the Sponsor's affordability, by exploring the availability of a second sponsor or additional income, or if we require clarification about adverse information on the sponsor's credit report. These applications can only be moved forward upon the applicant's revert about the required information.

4. FINAL FOLLOW-UP

An application is moved into 4. FINAL FOLLOW-UP if an applicant fails to reply to any of our outbound communication for a continuous period of longer than 2 weeks. It is recommended that you reach out to your prospect to affirm their commitment to studying at your educational institution if you notice that the application status changes to 4. FINAL FOLLOW-UP or 14. UNRESPONSIVE. 

Please notify the Student Hero agent of your prospect's intent if you manage to get hold of the prospect before they reply to us.  

5. PRE-QUALIFIED

(2 days)

Clients whose MRI meet Student Hero’s minimum criteria are moved to Pre-Qualified. From here we collect all the information and documentation required to submit a complete loan application for consideration to the funder into whose qualifying criteria the application fits best.

A complete list of the information and documentation required from the customer can be viewed here. 

The information is collected from the client by whatever means is the easiest for the customer and can be through any, or a combination, of the abovementioned communication channels or by completing the online application if they haven’t done so initially.

This stage consumes most of the total turnaround time due to the amount of information required from the client. It can take between a few hours and a week to collect a full data set from a customer, depending on the client’s availability and ability to take private calls during working hours. *The Funders dictate what is required from the applicant, not Student Hero. Student Hero follows up with the client regularly to avoid unnecessary delays. 

6. COMPLETE APPLICATION

This stage indicates that we collected all the information and documentation required to submit the application to one of the Funders. Applications do not spend much time in this stage because of Student Hero's agents’ eagerness to connect complete applications to a Funder as soon as possible. 

7. SUBMITTED TO BANK

(up to 3 days)

It can take between a few hours and a day or two to receive feedback after we connect an application to a bank. The different banks have different internal procedures which determine the relevant bank’s turnaround time. Sometimes the bank has to call the client to confirm their details. If the client misses the bank’s call the bank might only try again the following day. If the client fails the bank’s security questions they are required to visit their nearest branch to update their details or sign the loan agreement. It can take the client a day or two to make time for a branch visit. Many clients prefer to do it on a Saturday.

8. PRE-APPROVED BY BANKS

(2 days)

Approved loans for which the contract is pending go into this stage. Between approving the loan and the actual disbursement of the funds to the EI, the client has to sign the loan agreement or the bank’s offer letter. Depending on whether the relevant bank requires the client to sign the contract in the branch, electronically or conclude the agreement telephonically, it can take between one to four days for the client to conclude the loan agreement. The banks take 2 days to release the funds after the sponsor signed the loan agreement.     

9. READY FOR MANATI

(1 day)

In the event of a student loan application not being approved by one of the major banks, Student Hero will submit the client’s details to our alternate funding partners for consideration. Because Manati considers the joint-household and additional sources of income, as opposed to just the elected sponsor’s primary income, the agent has to collect the additional information from the family in order to prepare the application for Manati. Manati also settles arrear fees so applications can spend an additional day or two in this stage if we have to request a statement of account from the EI to confirm the arrear fees.      

10. PRE-APPROVED BY MANATI

(1 day)

This stage is similar to Pre-Approved by Banks. After Manati approves the loan the student and sponsor must sign the loan agreement. Manati uses an electronic signature tool so it usually takes no more than a day or two for the clients to attend to the contract.  

11. SUBMITTED TO FUNDI

(1 day)

We explore Fundi on the applicant’s behalf if the banks declined, the applicant works for the Government and if the student’s main sponsor’s meet affordability. Fundi must contact and verify the sponsor’s details after we connect the application to them. It sometimes takes a few tries for Fundi to get hold of the client.    

12. PARKED

Most of the Funders require a copy of the student’s National Senior Certificate (NSC) to pay out the loan to the EI. Approved applications for which we are awaiting only the NSC are parked here until matric results are released.

13. APPROVED: LOANS PAID OUT

These are finalised applications of which payment has been confirmed with the EI. 

14. UNRESPONSIVE

An application is moved into 14. UNRESPONSIVE if an applicant fails to reply to our final follow-up sent in stage 4. FINAL FOLLOW-UP. A final attempt will be made to contact the client. The application will be declined if the client does not respond within 5 days after being moved into this stage. It is recommended that you reach out to your prospect to affirm their commitment to studying at your educational institution if you notice that the application status changes to 4. FINAL FOLLOW-UP or 14. UNRESPONSIVE. 

Please notify the Student Hero agent of your prospect's intent if you manage to get hold of the prospect before they reply to us.  

15. CREDIT REPORT

Some of our EI partners use our service to do credit reports for applicants applying for the EI’s internal payment plan. They accumulate in here.  

16. CANCELLED/DECLINED

Applications go into this stage if the client is unresponsive, cancelled the application or if the application is declined by the funders or Student Hero. Declined or cancelled applications are marked with one of 16 disposition reasons:

1. Net income <R5000

2. Poor Credit Score

3. Uncontactable

4. No Sponsor

5. Declined by Credit Provider      

6. No longer interested

7. Insufficient surplus

8. Under Debt Review

9. Will study in the following intake

10. Never applied

11. Secured funds elsewhere

12. Unaware of payment terms

13. Course fee too expensive

14. Course not available

15. Foreigner

16. Judgement