KCB and Safaricom to Give Loans to Defaulters listed on CRB

The Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) and Safaricom will give loans to customers who had been blacklisted at the Credit Reference Bureaus (CRBs) but have since cleared their facility.

“We stand with Kenyans and all our customers at this time as our country and the world grapples with the pandemic. Our firm priority remains to ensure that our employees, customers, business partners and the entire population remain safe and free from the virus,” said KCB Group CEO and MD Joshua Oigara noting that the bank “shall open credit limits to those customers who had been listed because of defaulting on small amounts, but who are now repaying their loans. Customers who need relief are advised to get in touch with us to work out the respective support areas.”

The two firms have since devoted to giving customers in financial distress by making available more affordable lending and cutting transaction costs on mobile as part of the measures to assist as the country struggles with the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic.

This comes days after KCB announced a Sh30 billion stimulus fund for onward lending to KCB M-PESA customers during the next 90 days, allowing for higher borrowing limits for qualifying customers and extended repayment periods for borrowers with existing facilities.

Other assistance measures accessible to individual customers, and small business owners include renegotiations of the loan agreements to either allow settlement moratoriums or spreading the repayment periods up to one year.

KCB Bank will foot the legal costs related with loan restructuring.

“We have a role to continue supporting the economy and stimulating growth. The best remedy as our economy starts to slow down is to support our customers to get along with their lives and to protect jobs by providing additional lending. We have been in crises before, but if we pull together, even in this environment, we will get the solutions Kenya needs,” he added.

Last year KCB had more than 22 million customers who borrowed Sh212 billion from KCB-MPESA, a mobile lending platform which is operated in partnership with Safaricom.