The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) and the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA) have launched the Cost of Credit website that will be of great help for Kenyan credit seekers.
According to the Central Bank of Kenya, the website is set to provide information on fees and charges relating to loan products offered by commercial banks and microfinance banks; specifically, personal secured loans, personal unsecured loans and mortgage loans.
The website has three key features:
- As a start, three types of loans are featured on the website: personal secured loans, personal unsecured loans, and mortgage loans. Additional loan facilities will be added gradually in phases.
- The website provides consumers with a simplified, as well as an advanced, Total Cost of Credit (TCC) calculator to inform their decision-making prior to taking up a loan product.
- The website features a downloadable mobile application for customers’ ease in computing the cost of credit.
The website provides two key outputs that allow consumers to compare loan facilities across banks: the Total Cost of Credit and Annual Percentage Rate (APR) coupled with a repayment schedule which can be downloaded from the website by the users.
The information provided on the website, however, according to the two bodies, is intended to complement the information provided by banks licensed under the Banking Act and Microfinance Act, regarding their fees and charges on loan facilities.