This archive report was first published on 10 July 2019.
On July 10, 2019, the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) took a significant step to protect Kenyans from being unfairly listed on the Credit Reference Bureau (CRB).
According to the new directive, a borrower will only be considered to have defaulted a loan after six months, and will not be listed on the CRB before that.
This move comes at a time when lenders had forwarded more than 2.7 million Kenyans to be listed on the CRB for defaulting their loans.
The directive will affect both mobile loans and normal loans, meaning that Kenyans will only be listed on the CRB after defaulting a loan for six months.
However, the directive does not affect digital lenders like Tala, Branch, Okash, who forward millions of Kenyans for listing on credit reference bureaus after failing to pay a loan within 30 days.
Currently, CRB has listed more than 2.7 million Kenyans, with 500,000 of them having defaulted loans of 200 shillings and below.
Research indicates that there are more than 500 digital lenders who give Kenyans instant loans via their mobile loan apps.
Currently, 90 percent of borrowers in Kenya are accessing loans via mobile loan apps.
Commercial banks, microfinance, and CRBs were given three months to adjust and start using the new guidelines.
