CBK has plans of acting against digital lenders during the festive season.
Christmas is around the corner and if you’re planning on loaning money for the festive season then you should probably have other plans. CK governor Patrick Njoroge that they plan on protecting Kenyans from the unfair lending practices. These efforts come before the adoption of a proposed law that places the digital lenders under the watch of the banking regulator.
Will the law be ready by January?
The law unfortunately will not be implemented any time soon and might even take months before anything happens. A lot of lending is about to happen especially in the wake of January when it’s Christmas season and time to pay fees.
Dr. Njoroge told the MPs:
“There is a chance we will not get the Bill into law before April, but we also have Christmas and schools re-opening,”
He added:
“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.”
Digital lending apps have very tempting offers that lead many into serious debt with their crazy lending rates. The CBK bill is meant to curb these rates and regulate the predatory lending companies.
This also came after the CBK decided not to extend the six-month suspension of listing loan borrowers.
The CBK said in a statement:
“For those loans that went into arrears after that date (April 1), the period for determining their performance begins on October 1, 2020. If a loan is in arrears after 60 days from October 1, a financial institution will, in accordance with the existing procedures, give the borrowers notice of the intention to list them with the CRBs,”