More than 4 million Kenyan loan defaulters can now breathe a sigh of relief after President William Ruto directed that they be removed from Credit Reference Bureau (CRB).
The Head of State made the announcement on Wednesday after having a meeting with officials from Treasury, Central Bank, Safaricom, Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), and NCBA.
“I am very happy that between 4 to 5 million Kenyans will, by the beginning of November be out of the CRB blacklist,” President Ruto stated.
The President termed the move important because most Kenyans were excluded from formal borrowing and left at the mercy of shylocks and predatory lenders that exploit them.
Further, President Ruto said his government will support the credit sharing mechanism that will work better with a system where borrowers will be upgraded from the least to the best.
“Instead of blacklisting we can have a graduated mechanism that allocates rating on every citizen that is borrowing,” he said.
This is part of His campaign promises where he pledged to review credit listing in an attempt to open up access to credit for Kenyans.
It is the second time the government is removing defaulters from CRB listing, last year former President Kenyatta also directed the listing of defaulters on loans of less than Sh5 million to be stopped in a bid to cushion borrowers hit hard by Covid-19 economically.
The former Head of state’s postponement is expected to end today hence CRB listings will resume.
At the same time, President Ruto lauded the move by Safaricom to slash Fuliza’s daily charges which he says will enhance financial inclusion for all Kenyans.
“I’m confident that walking this journey in the direction you have started, we will get to the correct destination,” President Ruto said.
According to Safaricom, daily charges on loans of up to Sh1000 will come down from Sh10 to Sh5, while those below Sh500 will now attract Sh3 daily charges down from Sh5.
Overdraft transactions below Ksh 100 will not attract a daily maintenance fee.
1 percent access fee on any amount used by the customer will remain unchanged.
Meanwhile, customers who withdraw Ksh. 1000 and below shall enjoy a waiver on Daily Maintenance Fee for the first three days.
A 10 percent discount will apply on all transactions within the tariff band of Ksh 1001-1500 where customers will pay Ksh 18 as a daily maintenance fee from the previous Ksh 20.