Smart kiosks give students easier way to check loans
THE Digital Government Development Agency (DGA) has joined with the Student Loans Fund office (SLF) to allow its borrowers to check their loan status via 56 so-called smart kiosks set up by the government nationwide.
The DGA expects to establish more than 120 of the kiosks by the end of next year.
Airada Luangvilai, senior executive vice-president of the DGA, said that the agency has collaborated with SLF in order to allow its student borrowers to monitor their loans. Under the service, the students can pint out a QR code that they can use for loan repayments via KTB’s mobile banking application or on the KTB Netbank platform.
Airada said the agency had established the 56 smart kiosks in Bangkok and in provinces such as Phuket, Chiang Mai and Khon Kaen.
The kiosks provide 18 government services, including for social security information and healthcare. The agency also expects to round out this offering to 24 services, such as for utility payments and police orders, by the end of this year.
Chainarong Katchapanan, manager at SLF, said that the office provides 5.4 million students with loans nationwide,
The students have been paying back their loans via traditional channels such as at bank branches and other counter services. The cooperation with the DGA will provide an alternative choice for the students, with added convenience, Chainarong said.
He said that the office also plans to allow students to seek loan registrations and receive loan applications via the kiosks in the future.
“I think that the kiosks will provide more convenience for students, with the greater ease of checking on their loans and making repayments via KTB Netbank,” said Chainarong.
“Students wanting to check loan status need only to enter their IDs into the smart kiosks and chose from the menu. For students wanting to make repayments via KTB Netbank, they need to print out the QR code and use KTB Netbank to scan the QR code and repay their loans via online channels.
“Students who borrow from SLF have an average loan of Bt100,000 and they will spend 15 years to returning the loaned money back to SLF after their graduation.”
