Loan Apps That Won't be Raising Their Interests Amid High Demand for Quick Cash Ahead of Christmas, Schools Reopening

CreditHela, OPesa, KCB M-Pesa and OKash are among the mobile loan apps expected to maintain their loan normal interest rates during and after the festive season period.

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) governor Dr Patrick Njoroge last week told the Senate that CBK was doing everything to protect digital loan borrowers from unfair lending practices ahead of Christmas and the resumption of schools on January.

The undisclosed move, Njoroge said, would act in the interim before the adoption of a proposed law that places digital lenders under the watch of the CBK.

"There is a chance we will not get the Bill into law before April, but we also have Christmas and schools re-opening. We will find out on the life cycle of the Bill by knowing the time they (National Assembly) have envisaged then we will talk [as central bank] and see what we can do," Njoroge told the Senate on Tuesday, last week.

The CBK governor had been summoned to answer to concerns that some digital lenders could raise their annual interest rates by a hundrendfold for loans taken during the festive season and school resumption without providing such information to borrowers.

And while there could be such 'predatory moves' by some rogue players in the industry, 254 NewsDay has since authoritatively established that at least four digital loan apps will not be going that route.

The three independent apps which include KCB M-Pesa, OKash, CreditHela and OPesa and which serve distinctively different demographic markets in Kenya, will continue to offer their loans at their usual interest rates before, during and after the festivities.

This is as the aforementioned apps' borrowers have been encouraged to among other things, read and understand the respective loan terms available on each app, as well as engage in responsible borrowing.