It is now good news for millions of safaricom subscribers who will now enjoy an interest free credit facility. The interest free facility will be offered in conjunction with Equity Bank in a move that seems to rival all other mobile loan apps and hire purchase apps.
The facility dubbed as faraja will be offered to customers of the telecommunications giant. The facility will operate as a digital credit card where customers will be graded using a credit score. The credit score then determines their credit worth. Safaricom customers will now be able to purchase goods and services worth between 20 to 100,000 shillings in select stores.
The allowed mode of payment will through Lipa na Mpesa pay bill. The facility will be interest free and only Mpesa and bank transaction charges will apply. Currently Kenyans are feeling the high of a high cost of living and their spending power has been diminished.
Currently Safaricom’s Lipa na Mpesa services account for over 85% of the total non-cash payments in the country. They seem to have outdone banks and their global partners.
Currently Safaricom, has various products that are credit oriented. this services include; Fuliza, Mshwari and KCB-Mpesa. in order to offer this services Safaricom has mainly partnered with NCBA and KCB banks. both banks own a share in Fuliza and also own Mshwari and KCB Mpesa respectively.
Other Products
The Faraja Product is the second product Safaricom and Equity are launching together after the launch of their first product. The First product was named M-Kesho. M-Kesho was a financial service between Safaricom & Equity that would enable customers manage their their funds between the M-PESA account and an account based in Equity bank through their phones.
Relief as Safaricom subscribers are to buy Airtime via Fuliza
The faraja product is owned by a third party. Edmox Limited. Edmox limited is a Kenyan Based financial technology firm. According to documents seen by https://www.iconnews.co.ke there will be a revenue sharing agreement between all the parties involved.
The repayment period of Faraja is 30 days.
