Is the noose tightening around borrower’s necks or simply lending institutions are protecting their investments? This is the quagmire that my friends and colleagues have found themselves in. The emergence of mobile based loans has thrown spanner in the works when it comes to acquiring that development loan! Currently there are countless lending platforms on which borrowers can access short time financing or credit they include Safaricom’s Mshwari, Kcb’s Mpesa loan, Tala(formerly Mkopo rahisi) Branch, Saida among others. The simplicity of application(smart phone and in some instances facebook data) can see one easily be granted loans quite reasonable amounts at fair interest rates thereby pushing traditional “shylocks” and “we offer loans on items” practically out of business.
However the emergence of credit reference bureaus commonly known as crbs is a total game changer. A visit to local bank and with a touch of a button that “soft” tala loan you defaulted on might just deny you the chance to acquire a loan for that stalled project or prime piece of land. I mean these guyz are not fucking around! You borrowing history is analysed and appropriate advice given to your bank to decide whether to loan you or not, Some have been blacklisted for little amounts like ksh 50!. I decided to go and dig deep into my credit history and by my starndards am not faring on bad, At 724 on a scale of 200 to 900(metro score) with 200 indicating poor credit and 900 excellent. On the PPI range which indicates better payment performance ranging from M1 to M9 am a solid M1 with lower values being best while M9 being worst.
The central bank of kenya has three currently licensed crbs namely:
Creditinfo http://creditinfo.co.ke/individual-solutions/
3.Transunion https://www.transunionafrica.com/africa_main/consumer.page
You can generate your own credit report at the comfort of your home or office the process is simple just register on their website pay some little amount via paybill number (ranges from 50 to 350) and in 24 hrs you have your report delivered in your mail. Guard your history well! yeah and one last final thing they keep your negative report for SEVEN years so you might as well kiss that job that requires proper vetting like chief justice good bye
Hao ma jamaa Wa Tala walikua wanapeana loan ki mandazi mandazi. Kuna tapeli alichukua simu yangu na akatumiwa loan through my Mpesa account, the guy lied to me that anatumiwa Mpesa na manzi yake.
After 4 months a shiny eyed Lady started calling me na kuniambia nlipe pesa yao. By that time I had already forgotten about Ule tapeli I had to call back hao majamaa Wa Tala and explain it to them how I will neffa pay them pesa sjakula. Wali stop kunifuata fuata but 3 years later bado Niko kwa list of defaulters but hawajaweka Mimi kwa CRB
People default on loans taken out for very foolish things halafu ile siku getting that loan will be a real emergency you start blaming sijui safcom, mobiloan, CRB etc. Now a person who gets blacklisted for sh.50… seriously? Short-sightedness, as always, is many people’s undoing.
Now imagine he just graduated and with the job market being as it is akuje akuombe loan ama akushow umchukulie loan… what will you do now that you know his record?
Can’t lie. Sijasoma banking act for almost 8 years na last kusoma these apps hazikuwa. About CRB listing, naskia Chase Bank pia inaweka jina za watu huko.
Mimi I was blacklisted last year. Took 1500 from mpesa to buy airtime and forgot abt it nikaenda majuu kidogo, kurudi Napata msg ati I need to call a certain number…on calling it nikatumwa CRB, that was first time I was hearing about hio CRB.