Borrowing Crisis: New Report Reveals That Kenyans Have Up To Seven Mobile Loans At Any Given Time

A recent report by Credit Info has revealed shocking details on Kenya's borrowing culture. According to the report, over 16 percent of Kenyans borrowed from multiple mobile loan lenders between late 2017 and early 2018.

The report goes on further to indicate that an average Kenyan borrower has more than 7 mobile loans at one go. Overall, 74.5 percent of the borrowers had between 2-6 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.

Common mobile loans in Kenya include M-Shwari by Safaricom, KCB-Mpesa, Tala, Branch, Saida, Haraka, Zidisha, Shika, Stawika and Barclays’ Timiza. Over 98 percent of all these loans were provided by the banking sectors.

Another statistic in the report indicated that men aged 41-50 borrowed the most with only 34.5 percent of loans were being issued to women, with the 31-40 age group leading the pack. The data also showed that 86 percent of the loans were below Ksh. 10,000.