M-Shwari is a paperless Kenyan banking product available to Safaricom mobile phone subscribers. Users can deposit and borrow money using their mobile phones. The service is run by Commercial Bank of Africa in conjunction with Safaricom Ltd. It has recently come to the attention of most subscribers that paying a loan is not as straight forward as it should be. In an ordinary bank account, one would deposit the funds into the account and the bank would then deduct what is owed to them. However, M-Shwari does not operate in this traditional manner.
Instructions
In order to pay for your M-Shwari loan, the funds must be in your M-Pesa account. DO NOT deposit the funds into M-Shwari if your intention is to pay the loan. Load money to your M-Pesa account then in M-Pesa menu, select ‘M-Shwari’ and navigate to ‘Pay Loan’. Enter the loan amount you with to repay and send. You will receive a confirmation message.
Tips & Warnings
- To find out how much you can borrow, dial *234*6#.
- The minimum amount you can borrow is KES 100 and the maximum is KES 20, 000.
- Each loan attracts a one-time levy of 7.5%
- You must have been an M-Pesa subscriber for six months and your voice, data services must have been active over that period.
- Each loan is repayable within 30 days. Failure to repay within this time attracts a roll-over fee.
- The product is a banking product and CBA can report you to Credit Rating Agencies in the event of default. You must repay the loan within 60 days.
- See the image below on how to activate M-Shwari
Resources
Safaricom