LOAN APPS IN KENYA REPORTED TO HAVE PLUNGED MANY KENYANS INTO DEBT CRISIS

The popularity of mobile loan apps in Kenya has risen rapidly owing to the financial and economic crisis ocassioned by the global COVID 19 pandemic . With tens of thousands losing their source of income, the result was most Kenyans lacking alternatives to secure income and fed for their families. The conditions set group for predatory lending by companies whose primary means of lending at exorbitant rates was through mobile loan apps .

From the initial borrowing which many borrowers strived to pay back with the aim of building trust with the mobile loan platforms in Kenya, many actually ended up defaulting on their 2nd and 3rd repayments of the loans, and jumping from one lending platform to another and then switching to another, piling up so much debt and eventually being listed on the CRB, the Credit Reference Bureau In Kenya.

The realization of this crisis and the result on personal and group finance and collective national economic came about with report of individuals pleading for assistance to family and friends and the government to help pay back this money borrowed on mobile money apps in Kenya and also a call for proper legistration to govern the sector and safeguard the borrows who find themselves between a rock and a hard place trying to figure a way to straighten up their credit status and credit score that consequently affects their financial future.