kenya: End of the road for mobile money loan defaulter

If you are in the habit of defaulting on your mobile-based loans, your proverbial 40 days could soon be over.

Credit reporting firm TransUnion yesterday said it had introduced into the Kenyan market a mobile score card that profiles borrowers using mobile lending platforms, which it will be sharing with banks and other lenders. The tool, which offers financial services, provides a risk view of borrowers’ mobile-based loans.

It could result in the increase or reduction in access to credit for borrowers, depending on their use of mobile money services.

The service is in addition to Credit Reference Bureaus (CRBs) that have enabled banks as well as mobile money service providers weed out bad borrowers as well as they provide a relatively good view of good and bad borrowers.

Alternative access

TransUnion Kenya Chief Executive Billy Owino said the Mobile Score Card would enable lenders access predictive and customised risk views while offering consumers alternative access to credit and an opportunity to build a positive credit score.

This wil be made possible by making use of mobile lending platforms. He added that the mobile money ecosystem has outgrown necessity-based transactions and peer-to-peer lending and is now transiting into mobile credit and loans.

“Today, Kenyans perform more transactions on mobile platforms than they do inside banks,” said Mr Owino during the new product’s launch in Nairobi. “Transacting with conventional banks can be difficult, as many banks require documentation such as payslips and credit history in order to apply for credit or transactional accounts,” he said.

SOURCE:STANDARD MEDIA