CRB listing returns as 90-day freeze lapses today

By Seth Emanuel

Commercial Banks will from Monday start listing thousands of loan defaulters with credit reference bureaus (CRBs) following the expiry of the three-month notice period for blacklisting borrowers of unpaid credit.

Lenders offered defaulters 90 days from October 1 to start repaying their loans after the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) lifted the six-month freeze for listing borrowers who have failed to pay loans in the wake of the coronavirus economic fallout.

Now, the lenders are free to list the defaulters with Kenya’s three CRBs — Metropol, TransUnion and Creditinfo International.

The CBK announced the suspension of CRB listing for loans that were defaulted after April 1, and the relief, which was aimed at cushioning Kenyans from the economic fallout that came with Covid-19, lasted for six months to September 30.

But the banks and saccos are supposed to warn defaulters 90 days ahead of listing them with the three CRBs.

This is emerging at a time the banking sector is struggling with mounting unpaid loans whose share has risen to the highest level since August 2007.