Habacus is the first certification body in Italy specialized in the verification of students’ academic performance. Our key role is to facilitate the relationship between students and financial institutions to facilitate access to student loans.
As a certification body, Habacus integrates its academic performance certification into banking processes, helping banks determine student eligibility for loans. This certification confirms that students meet the specific requirements of various financial products.
No, Habacus does not grant loans. We are a certification body that connects students, post-graduate educational institutions, and financial institutions. What we do: 1- Certification: We collect and analyze students’ academic data to certify their eligibility for student loans. 2- Facilitation: We collaborate with banks, integrating our certification into their loan granting processes. 3- Continuous Verification: We ensure that students maintain the necessary requirements for banks before each loan installment is disbursed. Important Note: Students do not sign contracts directly with Habacus. To access loans, they must open an account and sign a contract with their chosen bank. Habacus handles the necessary certification to access loans.
If you want to know which student loans you may qualify for before submitting an official request, Habacus offers a useful pre-certification tool: 1- Access to the test: You can use the pre-certification test available on this site. 2- How it works: After answering a series of simple questions about your personal data and academic path, the tool will provide you with a list of student loans available on the market that may be suitable for you. 3- Results: The test will help you understand which financing options are right for your academic profile, assisting in your selection and preparation of the official request.
The “Invite Friends” program is dedicated to students who, after applying through the Intesa Sanpaolo website and obtaining a certification, can in turn invite a friend to apply for a Per Merito loan from Intesa Sanpaolo. If the invited student obtains a positive certification, the inviting student is rewarded with an Amazon gift card of a predefined value. The details are in the “Invite a Friend” regulation available at this link.
As a certification body, Habacus integrates its academic performance certification into bank processes, helping banks determine students’ eligibility for loans. This certification confirms that students meet the specific requirements of various financial products. Following the initial assessment, Habacus also manages the ongoing monitoring of students’ academic progress. This includes periodic verification that students maintain the necessary requirements to continue receiving further loan installments.
Pre-certification is a non-binding test that students can use to simulate their eligibility for a student loan based on the academic requirements they have declared. Certification is the verification of the student’s requirements based on the characteristics requested by the chosen financial product, which takes place after a loan request has been made to the bank.
For any doubts about the certification request or if support is needed, students can write to the reference address info@habacus.com or download the Habacus app to chat with an operator (available Monday to Friday from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM).
If Habacus’ verification is completed successfully, the student can apply for a student loan from Intesa Sanpaolo Bank or Banco BPM. Habacus is not the lender but the certification body. With Habacus certification, the student can schedule an appointment at a bank branch to open an account and obtain the loan.
Yes. In some cases, the bank, after conducting credit risk assessments, may deny the loan if they deem the student’s credit situation to be unsuitable for disbursement (e.g., previous debts, etc.).
The scope of educational institutions and types of courses that can be financed may vary depending on the product. Typically, all courses recognized by the Ministry of University and Research (MUR) as tertiary education paths can be funded. These include bachelor’s, master’s, and single-cycle degrees, as well as first and second-level university masters, including the Erasmus program: university courses (from public and private universities), courses offered by AFAM (Advanced Artistic, Musical, and Choreographic Education), and tertiary and professional training courses offered by ITS (Higher Technical Institutes). Students can also request certification for vocational training courses, subject to accreditation of the training institution by the credit institution.
To apply for the BPM-Consap loan, you must go to a branch and fill out the dedicated form. Once all the documentation has been gathered, the branch will communicate your request to Habacus, which will begin processing it. All the information can be found here.
Once the request is made through Intesa Sanpaolo’s platform, Habacus reviews the submitted documentation within 24/48 business hours. In the case of incorrect or missing documentation, the student will be notified via the Intesa platform and, after 7 days, via email. Once the documentation is complete, Habacus will contact the educational institution to verify the shared documents. The institution has 30 days to respond. Once a response is received, Habacus will proceed with the final evaluation and issue the certification.
If complete documentation is not provided within 15 days, the case will be closed and the request will be certified negatively. However, the student is free to submit a new request.
If the institution does not respond in time (within 30 days), the request will be certified negatively. However, the student is free to submit a new request.
The student will find the Habacus certificate with the evaluation details in the “Results / Other Documents” section of the Intesa Sanpaolo platform.
If the loan provides a single tranche, the financial institution will grant the student the full loan amount. If the loan is disbursed in multiple tranches, the amount will be divided into several disbursements at intervals set by the financial institution. Before each disbursement, Habacus verifies that the student is meeting the requirements for maintaining the loan. This means Habacus will contact the institution again to verify updated documentation and forward the results to the financial institution so they can disburse the next loan installment.
No, there are no income requirements. The Habacus certification is based solely on the evaluation of the student’s academic performance, verifying that the student is keeping up with their study plan.
Yes, receiving a scholarship does not prevent you from applying for a student loan.
Thanks to the loan, students can pay for all expenses related to student life. The loan is not exclusively for university fees; students can also use it to pay for rent, books, transportation, etc.
Yes, during the verification phase, the Habacus operator checks the student’s residence compared to where they attend courses to determine whether the student is living at home or away from home. This is important because it affects the loan amount the student may be eligible for. If the address on the student’s official documents (residence certificate, ID card, etc.) matches that of the educational institution, the student should enter “LOCAL” during the application process.
Every six months, both the student and the educational institution are contacted to provide updated academic documentation that confirms the student has met a certain number of university credits. If the documentation is not provided, or if it shows that the requirements have not been met, Habacus certifies the maintenance request negatively and communicates the result to the bank, which will not disburse the next tranche. If the requirement is met, Habacus communicates the result to the bank at the end of the month, and the bank disburses the next tranche within the first 10 days of the following month (e.g., on May 1st, Habacus requests the documentation, verifies it during May, on May 31st Habacus communicates the positive outcome to the bank, and the bank disburses the tranche by June 10th).
If the maintenance request has been certified negatively, the student can request tranche recovery within 5 months by writing an email to info@habacus.com, specifying “tranche recovery” in the subject and attaching the necessary academic documentation. After completing the verification process, Habacus will send the result to the bank, which will proceed with the tranche disbursement.
The bridge period is the time between the end of studies and the start of loan repayment. During this period, typically two years, the student can focus on finding a job before starting to repay the loan. Please note that Habacus does not disburse the loan, so it is recommended to check the lender’s policies regarding this aspect.