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MBAs Snub Banks For Alternative Student Loans Provider Prodigy Finance

Simplicity is the key as MBA applicants flock to the community-funded platform

Wed Mar 1 2017

BusinessBecause
If you ask Sonya Petcavich why she decided to get a loan from Prodigy Finance, and not a national lender, she’ll give one reason: simplicity.

After only half an hour of filling out documents, Sonya secured a $76,000 post-graduate education loan, which she used to fund her MBA tuition at one of the world’s most prestigious business schools.

“Prodigy Finance makes everything seamless,” says the California native and MBA student at Oxford Saïd Business School. “It’s an easy online shopping experience for student loans.”

Sonya hopes to parlay her Oxford MBA into continued success for her own small business: a cat-sitting marketplace called Meowtel, basically an Airbnb for pets. She’s now working with entrepreneurs in the UK to roll out a line of bathroom accessories.

Helping students like Sonya has long been Prodigy Finance’s main objective. Indeed, the idea first came about in 2005, when co-founder and former INSEAD MBA student Cameron Stevens lamented over a beer about the challenges faced by international postgraduate students in financing business school.

Since then, Prodigy Finance has funded more than $250m in loans to more than 6,200 students around the globe.

“Prodigy Finance is one of the main reasons why I am here at Oxford Saïd,” says Sonya’s MBA classmate Akhil Sachdev. A chartered financial analyst by profession, Akhil is at the esteemed English institution to accelerate his career.

But his journey to England would not have been possible without the proper funding—and, because of his age and test scores, scholarships weren’t a possibility for him.

Akhil considered asking his friends and families for help, but thought the idea too disorganised and complicated. Akhil considered asking his family and friends to bear the bulk of expenses, but thought the idea too disorganized and complicated.

“Prodigy Finance are supporting education at top-ranked universities without any form of collateral—that was the one thing that got me interested,” Akhil continues.

How did Akhil come across Prodigy Finance? Simple: through a Google search.

“I stumbled upon the Prodigy Finance model, which was a perfect match for what I was looking for,” he says. “They were very transparent and efficient in their replies in terms of providing information.”

Stories like Akhil and Sonya’s are not uncommon for Prodigy Finance borrowers. The company – a borderless, peer-to-peer lending model - estimates that over 80% of its customers have no other way of financing their studies.

“Prodigy Finance has revolutionised international student loans with a borderless credit model available to 150 nationalities,” the group said in a statement.

“Disrupting the traditional funding market, loans are collectively funded by a community of alumni, institutional investors and qualified private investors who receive a financial and social return.”

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