A Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) is a company that keeps track of your credit score so that potential lenders (banks, savings and loan associations, microfinance, and so on) can assess your borrowing eligibility while also keeping track of defaulters.
The Central Bank of Kenya has granted licenses to three CRB firms:
- TransUnion Africa (Credit Reference Bureau Africa Limited
- Metropol Credit Reference Bureau Limited
- Creditinfo Credit Reference Bureau Kenya Limited
- You can receive your CRB clearance certificate from any of these three companies, and while the fees are comparable, the procedures varies slightly.
What You’ll Require
- The charge for requesting the clearance certificate is KSh.2200 (this absurdly high fee is unfortunately constant across all three CRBs)
- KSh.50 for registration and payment of the above fees via M-PESA, Airtel Money, or Equitel.
- Install the TransUnion Nipashe App on your Android phone.
- A valid email address is required.
How to Get a Clearance Certificate from the CRB (Credit Reference Bureaus)
- From the Google Play store, download and install the most recent TransUnion Nipashe app.
- The app will now check your credit score and report the results on the Welcome screen. However, to use the other services, you must first activate your account. To do so, go to the bottom of the page and tap the Activate button.
- As part of this activation, you’ll be asked to register right away. To make this payment, send KSh.50 to the Safaricom paybill number 212121, referencing your ID number as the account number. If you pay with Equitel, you can use the paybill number 212120 to pay the cost, with your ID number functioning as the account number.
- After you pay the Ksh.50, TransUnion (TRANS-CRB) will send you an SMS with a verification code and confirmation that your registration was successful. In addition, you will now receive a free credit report once a year.
- To finalize the activation, return to the Nipashe App and enter this verification code before tapping the Verify button. The remaining services will now be available.
- Go to the Clearance Certificate page and enter the email address where you want the certificate to be sent, then press the Submit button.
- Following your payment, TransUnion will send you an SMS verifying that a clearing certificate has been delivered to your email address.
Check your email address and save the PDF certificate that was delivered to you.
Check your email address and save the PDF certificate that was delivered to you.