GNAT Loan Process (Manual) Verses CCT Loan Process (Short Code) | Full comparism
The GNAT loan process can be considered one of the most archaic methods of accessing loans. Members keep complaining about the mode of operation of the teachers’ fund but, it appears the fund managers are yet to even hear a word. Our team have therefore taken the mantle to compare and contrast the processes of accessing loans as either members of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) or as members of the Coalition of Concerned Teachers, Ghana (CCT-GH).
GNAT loan process
Members of the Ghana National Association of Teachers in any attempt to access a loan from the union’s mutual fund must first of all take a loan application form from a district office of the union. The individual can either visit the district office to pick the form or ask a colleague to pick the form for him or her. It is believed that members would be more likely to visit the office themselves for the loan application forms due to the confidentiality attached to loan applications. Apart from the traveling risks and cost of transport, the GNAT member would most likely be absent from school to undertake the trip to get the loan form. Directly, the loan process can be considered as being one of the causes of absenteeism in schools. For a financially distressed teacher who needs a loan but has to make a trip involving transportation fares or costs, the financial trauma would definitely be more.
After picking a form, the loan applicant must get his guarantors to physically sign the forms. The challenges and implications of traveling will apply in this stage as well. The inconvenience of getting colleagues to physically sign the guarantor section of the loan application form is making lots of applicants forge signatures of colleagues who even agree to guarantee the loans. Such guarantors will most likely send their details including their staff IDs and fund numbers but would encourage the applicant to sign any signature. As much as this practice is unethical, the union could be aware of the practice but turn a blind eye to it.
It is also possible a loan applicant or messenger would have to visit GNAT district offices multiple times in an attempt to pick a form but would not meet the officers for several reasons.
Even when a form is picked and completed successfully, it is possible that your loan form could remain at the district office for several days or even weeks before it is sent to Accra. One of the possible reasons for such a situation is that only a few members applied for a loan during that period. Loan forms not reaching Accra within a short period after submission of the form is one major reason your loan will be delayed unnecessarily.
When the loan application form finally reaches Accra, just pray there is no technical issue (query) that will be detected in the form. This is because the loan application form must come back to the loan applicant through the district office for the applicant to correct any mistakes. The process of bringing the form back to the applicant could face the same bottleneck when the form needs to go to Accra. The form could remain in Accra until it is convenient for it to be packaged together with other documents going to the region or district.
With or without a query on the loan application at the headquarters, the approved loan which has been issued in the form of a cheque must pass through the same bureaucratic channel to reach the district office. The district officer can either give out the cheque to the applicant or deposit the cheque into the accounts of the applicants.
At the end of the process, GNAT loans which could have taken two weeks for the money to finally be reflected into the account of the applicants usually would take more than three (3) weeks. Others even receive their cheque after a month.
CCT-GH Loan
The loan process from the Coalition of Concerned Teachers, Ghana is very simplified. The simplified and convenient process is the use of digital platforms in all aspects of the loan application.
Any member of CCT-GH who needs a loan only needs to dial their loan USSD (short code) and select a loan option. The applicant will select or enter the amount they want. The loan applicant also has to enter the staff details of their guarantors.
Guarantors of CCT-GH also have to go through the same process of dialing the short code but select loan approval option to approve loans for colleagues who enter their details as guarantors.
Finally, the loan is disbursed to the accounts of loan applicants after guarantors approve their status as guarantors electronically from the same short codes.
In conclusion, it is unimaginable why latter-day unions are innovating regularly to reduce the fatigue of members, while the big-brother teachers’ union is stagnated in their old ways.
See also: Banks no longer pay-off loans
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