Kenyans have reacted to the news that Safaricom would restructure its popular Fuliza overdraft facility, allowing customers borrowing less than KSh 1,000 not to pay a maintenance fee for the first three days.
Under the deal, customers will benefit from reduced costs, with Safaricom and its partners, KCB Group and NCBA Group, saying the move would benefit more than 80% of M-Pesa customers who seek to complete their payment transactions with Fuliza credit.
Safaricom also said customers who borrow above KSh 1,000 would also get a 10 – 20% discount on their Daily Maintenance Fee, making Fuliza the country’s most accessible and affordable credit facility.
The new discounted rates will be effective on October 1, 2022, and the one-off Access fee levied when customers access Fuliza remained unchanged at 1%.
President William Ruto lauded the move, saying, “we will work with lenders to develop a financial product that will allow Mama Mboga to access credit at a single-digit interest rate the same way big firms do.”
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Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa said that the move was in line with their purpose of transforming lives, and Central Bank of Kenya Governor Patrick Njoroge welcomed the restructuring of the product, including the pricing changes.
Kenyans took to social media to comment on the development, with some praising the move and others condemning it, saying it would make them remain slaves to borrowing.
Safaricom and its partners have announced their commitment to support government efforts concerning Kenyans who are negatively listed in Credit Reference Bureaus, and will execute a credit repair mechanism that will see customers who have defaulted on KCB M-PESA, M-Shwari, and Fuliza enlist for a credit repair scheme.
This will result in the delisting of over four million digital loan defaulters who are negatively listed on CRBs and restore their ability to access formal, regulated credit.
The CEO said they intend to work with their partners and other industry stakeholders to rethink the credit information-sharing framework that underpins CRB to enable Kenyans, especially the Kenyan entrepreneur, to access credit more seamlessly.
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Safaricom’s move is a step towards increasing financial inclusion, and with the help of partners like KCB Group and NCBA Group, they can make a significant impact on the lives of Kenyans.
Fuliza was launched in January 2019 and was especially instrumental at the height of the COVID pandemic.
Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa said that the move was in line with their purpose of transforming lives, “We have introduced a free daily maintenance fee period for Fuliza transactions of KSh. 1,000 that repay within the first three days. This simple change will reset the use of the Fuliza service to its intended purpose,” he said.
The specific Fuliza is a revolutionary M-PESA innovation and is the first solution in the world to enable mobile money customers to complete a transaction when they have insufficient funds.
