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 approval processes.
3- Ongoing Verification: We ensure that students continue to meet the requirements set by 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 find out which student loans you might be eligible for before submitting an official application, Habacus offers a helpful pre-assessment tool consisting of 3 steps:
- Access the test: you can take the pre-assessment test available at this link.
- How it works: After answering a series of simple questions about your personal details and academic background, the tool will provide a list of student loans available on the market that you might qualify for.
- Results: the test will help you understand which financing options are suitable for your academic profile, making it easier for you to choose and prepare for the official application.
As a certification body, Habacus integrates its academic performance certification into banking 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.
For any doubts about the certification request or if support is needed, students can write to info@habacus.com or download the Habacus app to chat with an operator (available from Monday to Friday from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM).
Yes. In some cases, after conducting credit risk assessments, the bank may deny the loan because it deems the student’s credit situation unsuitable for disbursement (e.g., pre-existing debts, financial instability, etc.).
The scope of educational institutions and the types of courses eligible for financing may vary depending on the product. Generally, all courses recognized by the Ministry of University and Research (MUR) as higher education programs are eligible for financing. This includes bachelor’s degrees, master’s degrees, single-cycle degrees, first and second-level university master’s programs, offered by universities, AFAM (Higher Education in Arts, Music, and Dance), SSML (Higher Schools of Linguistic Mediation), and vocational higher education courses offered by ITS (Higher Technical Institutes). Language courses of at least six months in duration, recognized by a “Certification Body,” are also eligible for financing.
To apply for a student loan with BCC Credifriuli, you need to go to a branch and fill out the dedicated forms. Once all the documentation is collected, the branch will forward your request to Habacus, which will begin processing it. You will need to download the Habacus app from the link received via SMS, register, and start the process. Habacus will verify the validity of the academic requirements and provide you with the certification result via the app. The certification will also be sent to the bank.
Once the application is submitted through the Intesa Sanpaolo platform, Habacus will evaluate the shared documentation within 24/48 working hours. If any documentation is incorrect or missing, the student will be notified through the bank’s platform and, after 7 days, via email. Once the documentation is complete, Habacus will contact the educational institution to confirm the shared documents. The educational institution has 30 days to respond. Once the response is received, Habacus will proceed with the final evaluation and issuance of the certification.
If the complete documentation is not shared within 15 days, the application 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 in the “Results / Other Documents” section of the Intesa Sanpaolo platform.
If the loan involves a single installment, the financial institution will provide the student with the full loan amount. If the loan involves multiple installments, the amount will be divided into several installments, with the frequency determined by the financial institution. Before each disbursement, Habacus will verify that the student is meeting the requirements to maintain the loan. This means that Habacus will contact the student again, check the updated documentation, and forward the outcome to the financial institution so that the next loan installment can be disbursed.
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.
According to the timeline established by the loan, the student will be contacted to submit updated academic documentation that confirms the completion of a certain number of university credits. If the documentation is not shared or if the requirement for maintaining the loan is not met, Habacus will certify the maintenance request negatively and notify the bank, which will not disburse the next installment. However, if the requirement is met, Habacus will inform the bank of the outcome, and the bank will then disburse the installment.
If the maintenance request for Per Merito by Intesa Sanpaolo has been certified negatively, the student can request a recovery of the installment within 5 months by emailing info@habacus.com, specifying “installment recovery” in the subject and attaching the necessary academic documentation. After completing the checks, Habacus will send the outcome to the bank, which will then disburse the installment.
The “bridge period” is the time between the completion of studies and the start of loan repayment: during this period, usually lasting two years, the student can focus on finding a job before they have to begin repaying the loan amounts used. It is important to note that Habacus does not provide the loan, so it is recommended to check the lender’s provisions regarding this aspect.
Yes, the applicant student must be between 18 and 40 years old.
You can find the list here.
The regulations of the Fund stipulate that loans are provided in annual installments of no less than 3,000 euro and no more than 5,000 euro for each remaining year of study, up to a maximum of 25,000 euro, subject to the requirements set forth by the regulations.
The interest rate and the terms of the loan are set by individual banks within the parameters allowed by the agreement between the Department of Youth and the ABI (Italian Banking Association).
The repayment of the loan must take place over a period between three and fifteen years. The repayment plan cannot begin before the thirtieth month following the disbursement of the last loan installment.