Covid-19 Loan Defaulters Can Now Be Blacklisted, CBK

Kevin Namunwa | Oct 1, 2020

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has now allowed banks to blacklist loan defaulters who had been pardoned due to the current coronavirus situation.

The defaulters’ names can now be forwarded to the three Credit Reference Bureaus (CRBs) – Metropol, TransUnion and Creditinfo International – for blacklisting.

The CBK governor, Dr Patrick Njoroge refused to extend the six-month moratorium that expired on September 30.

The defaulters, under the law, will have a three-month notice that expires in January 2021. If they fail to pay within that period, they will be blacklisted.

“The point here is to emphasise we are going back to the normal operations, the way things used to happen and that’s where we will be from October 1.They will give you 30 days so you have three months to regularise whatever you had not paid,” Dr Njoroge said on Wednesday.

The government had issued the moratorium directive on April 1^st. At least 3.2 million Kenyans were listed with the CRBs, and the number is set to rise by thousands in January. Data from the banking sector shows that workers and businesses defaulted on loans worth Ksh30 billion in the four months to June.

On March 25, 2020, President Uhuru Kenyatta ordered the temporary suspension of the listing with CRB of any person, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMES) and corporate entities whose loan account had fallen overdue or is in arrears, effective April 1, 2020.

According to the Head of State, this was aimed to relieve the burden caused by COVID-19 that has rendered several people jobless due to tough economic times.

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