About StepEx
Enabling education providers to convert spare capacity into realised revenue by allowing students to pay for education over time.
StepEx is a UK-based education finance company focused exclusively on tuition finance.
We work with universities and professional education providers to remove upfront affordability barriers at the start of a course — without requiring education providers to lend, underwrite, or take on regulatory complexity.
Why StepEx exists
Across the UK, capable students are often unable to enrol on courses not because of ability or intent, but because payment is required upfront at the start of the course.
Traditional consumer credit products are poorly suited to education because applicants are assessed primarily on historic earnings and credit profiles, which are not reflective of post-education earning potential. At the same time, most education providers are not set up to act as lenders, lacking the specialist systems, data access, and operational capability required to assess repayment likelihood and service credit effectively.
StepEx exists to bridge this gap — providing regulated tuition finance that works for students, while enabling education providers to widen access and improve conversion without becoming lenders themselves.
What we do
StepEx provides the lending, compliance, and servicing infrastructure behind tuition finance.
- •Students enter into regulated finance agreements directly with StepEx
- •Education providers remain focused on admissions, delivery, and outcomes
- •StepEx manages eligibility checks, lending, repayments, and regulatory obligations
Education providers do not lend to students, and StepEx does not provide advice on courses.
Built for UK education
StepEx works exclusively with UK education providers, including universities, professional training organisations, and vocational education providers.
Since launching, StepEx has been adopted by a growing number of leading institutions across the UK education sector and continues to expand.
Regulation and oversight
Regulated credit is provided by StepEx Lender Ltd, an FCA-authorised consumer credit firm and a wholly owned subsidiary of Step Exchange Ltd.
As an FCA-authorised firm, StepEx is required to:
- •Carry out responsible affordability and eligibility assessments
- •Provide clear and transparent information before agreements are entered into
- •Treat customers fairly throughout the life of an agreement
All regulated lending activity sits with StepEx.
Technology-led, specialist by design
StepEx operates specialist, highly sophisticated, automated lending and servicing systems with carefully designed guardrails specifically for education finance, enabling consistent decisioning and scalable repayment management.
Our approach combines:
- •Credit reference data
- •Bank transaction data (where applicable)
- •Education-specific insights, including course and graduate outcome data
These inputs support responsible lending decisions and repayment structures aligned with the realities of education and employment.
How we work with education providers
Depending on the arrangement, education providers may:
- •Signpost students to StepEx using FCA-approved financial promotions, or
- •Operate under StepEx's permissions through an Introduced Appointed Representative arrangement, where applicable
In all cases, StepEx remains the lender of record and retains regulatory responsibility for credit.
Roles, clearly defined
StepEx
provides the finance
Students
decide whether to take it
Education providers
decide who to admit and what to teach
Each party focuses on what they do best.
Learn more
To explore how StepEx works in practice, see: