On 20 November 2018, a Credit Info report painted a troubling picture of Kenya’s mobile lending habits, showing that many borrowers were taking out several loans at the same time between late 2017 and early 2018.
The findings said more than 16 percent of Kenyans borrowed from multiple mobile loan lenders during that period. The report also stated that the average borrower had more than seven mobile loans at once, while 74.5 percent of borrowers held between two and six mobile loans at any given time.
“Repetitive borrowing/ lending of mobile loans was common in Kenya and on average each borrower had around four mobile loans,” said the report.
The lenders named in the report included M-Shwari by Safaricom, KCB-Mpesa, Tala, Branch, Saida, Haraka, Zidisha, Shika, Stawika and Barclays’ Timiza. The report said more than 98 percent of the loans came from the banking sector.
It also showed that men aged 41-50 borrowed the most, while only 34.5 percent of the loans were issued to women. The 31-40 age group led overall borrowing, and 86 percent of the loans were below Ksh. 10,000.
