Youths listed as loan defaulters at the Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) now have received reprieve after the latest decision by the Youth Enterprise Development Fund.
The fund’s chairman Ronnie Osumba announced on Tuesday that they were going to delist youths who have a bad record with CRB so as to encourage them to take up loans and set up entrepreneurship ventures. This will only apply to the Youth Enterprise Fund.
Speaking during a Youth Dialogue Forum in Nairobi, Osumba said: “We are encouraging youths to take funds from the youth funds and invest in the Big Four Agenda because money will always follow the policy.”
“Taking this into account, the Youth Fund will stop listing youth defaulters in the CRB. However, they will be expected to pay back their loans promptly.”
According to the Youth Fund boss, businesses that are not aligned with the Big Four Agenda will miss out.
In September 2016, at least 400,000 Kenyans had been listed with the credit reference bureaus (CRBs) for outstanding mobile loans of less than 200 shillings.
A survey by Transunion Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) found that 316,455 people in a group of 600,000 cases had been negatively listed for outstanding balances of less than Sh100 associated with mobile money.For a victim of CRB blacklisting to get in good books, he or she has to pay 2000 shillings for a clearance certificate from the CRBs first.