Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) is every borrower’s motivation of paying up a loan. There are over 500,000 borrowers blacklisted by the CRB for not paying up currently.
According to data from Transunion Credit Reference Bureau in the year 2015, only 150,000 borrowers were blacklisted but with the era of quick money lenders such as mobile loan apps 350,000 more borrowers are now blacklisted three years later.
One does not require to sign up for huge loans to get blacklisted, as long as it’s a loan that you committed to pay and failed, then your name is likely to be amongst the 500,000 Kenyans blacklisted by the CRB. It is advisable to check and ensure that your personal information has also not been used to take up loans that resulted in your name being blacklisted without your knowledge.
Repaying the loan that led to you getting blacklisted does not get you off the hook, your information remains on the CRB’s records showing you have a low credit rating for the next seven years which makes the banks refrain from giving you loans within that period.
Kenya’s CRB has three licensed companies, namely: CreditInfo, TransUnion and Metropol.
To access your CRB status, you are required to register with either of the companies or all of them.
In the case where your lender sends a report to get you blacklisted to all the three companies, then, you will have to clear with all the companies.
To check whether you’re CRB blacklisted you can use either of the methods below:
Check CRB status with Metropol
- On your mobile phone dial *433# using a Safaricom line
- Enter your National Identity (ID) Number
- Enter the Metropol agent number of the agent that referred you, if you were referred by a Metropol agent and if not, enter zero (0) to continue
- Confirm your details to complete the registration
- Pay 100 shillings as registration fee through the Paybill number 220388 and use your National ID number as the account number.
- An SMS with Crytobol PIN, Reference Number, and a Link to access your credit report will come through.
- Check the Metropol website through the provided link and input your phone number and reference number to download your credit report.
Check CRB Status with TransUnion
TransUnion CRB Kenya services are accessed through SMS number 21272, the default Transunion Nipashe app or on their official website.
Text your names as is indicated on your Identity (ID) Card to 21272 or 21CRB with 19 shillings as SMS Charges, download the Transunion Nipashe app to avoid the SMS charges
- Register by paying 50 shillings which is one-off to Paybill number 212121 dialing your National ID number as the account number
- Request your credit status Credit Report (CR)
- Reply with your email to access the CR
- Receive your CRB status. Good shows a positive status and hence not blacklisted while default shows a negative status and therefore you are blacklisted
- For credit reports that will follow, Pay 650 shillings to Mpesa or Airtel Paybill number 212121 with your National ID Number as the account number which will help you get more than one Credit report yearly
- For a Clearance Certificate, pay 2200 shillings and afterward email you’re Mpesa or Airtel transaction details to cert@transunion.co.ke and you will be mailed back the Clearance Certificate.
READ on How to Get a Clearance Certificate from Transunion CRB
Check CRB Status with CreditInfo
To use the creditinfo services to check you’re CRB status visit their website and follow the following steps:
- Fill in the Credit Report Request Form to gain access to your credit report.
- To get a certificate of clearance, fill in the Credit Certificate application form
- To solve any issues on your credit report, fill in the Credit Report Dispute Form
Related article: Here Are Mobile Loan Apps with the Lowest Interest Rates
Clearing with the CRB Once Blacklisted
If your credit report showed default which means you are blacklisted, you need to clear with the CRB. You can ask for the contacts and details of the lender that got you blacklisted with CRB, to get the information you will have to pay 50 shillings.
In the case where you feel you were wrongly blacklisted; you can visit the indicated lender to resolve the issue.