The hustler fund has frozen the accounts of over 800,000 borrowers who failed to repay their loans within the allotted time frame.
According to information from the Ministry of Cooperatives, the payback percentage is just over 61 per cent, with default rates for some counties in dry and semi-arid regions over 70 per cent.
Around 15.7 million borrowers had successfully applied for and been awarded loans, most between Ksh. 500 and Ksh. 3,000 each time they borrowed, as the hustler fund on Thursday marked 100 days since its establishment. 6.3 million of them or customers are regulars.
Twenty-one billion in loans is already in borrowers' savings accounts.
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Currently, a borrower has up to 14 days to repay a loan. According to ministry data, the Ksh. Nineteen billion that was due, Ksh. 11.87 billion had already been reimbursed, leaving a Ksh7.4 billion balance.
The terms of the agreement state that a borrower loses points from their credit score if they don't repay the loan within 14 days. However, they have an additional 15 days to repay the debt before the interest rate increases to 9.5% from 8%. If a loanee doesn't make payments after 30 days, they lose all of their credit ratings and have their accounts blocked, which prevents them from borrowing money again until they have paid off their whole debt.
According to data, 39% of the Ksh. 16.7 billion that is due within 30 days has yet to be paid.
However, the ministry lists only 800,000 borrowers as defaulters without providing any financial details. They are focused on bringing the defaulters back for the time being.
Five million of the 15.7 million debtors, mostly in metropolitan areas, are spread throughout five counties. They are located in Nairobi, Kiambu, Nakuru, Machakos, and Kakamega counties.
Repayment analysis reveals an average of 61%. With Mandera, Wajir, Marsabit, Garissa, and Turkana counties reporting more than 60% apiece default rates, it is lowest in dry and semi-arid counties.
The ministry is preparing to launch the second round of lending to microenterprises run by people and organizations. Students would have access to loans ranging from 10,000 to 200,000 Kenyan shillings, repayable over three to twelve months.