By mid-morning, Albert Njeru’s small hardware shop is already busy. Njeru, a trader in Kamakis, Ruiru, Kiambu County, is accustomed to handling bulk orders from contractors and individual builders from nearby construction sites.
A regular customer walks in and places an order for 70 bags of cement. Njeru checks his stock and quickly realizes he does not have enough to fulfil the order.
He immediately calls his supplier to arrange for another delivery, only to face another problem: he does not have enough cash in his account to pay for the consignment.
Then, a Boostika prompt appears on his screen, showing the amount he is eligible to borrow and the exact deficit needed to complete the transaction.
Njeru accepts the facility and the payment goes through, allowing his business to keep moving. That is the practical role of Boostika, an Equity Bank loan solution designed to help customers complete transactions when they temporarily run short of funds.
Available through *247#, Equitel and the Equity Mobile App, the facility provides between Sh100 and Sh100,000, depending on your approved loan limit.
How does Boostika work?
Boostika is designed to work within the payment process rather than requiring you to leave the transaction and make a separate loan application.
The facility allows you to complete an eligible transaction when you run short of funds. This includes sending money to a mobile wallet or bank account, paying for goods and services through the One Equity Till, or buying airtime.
Whenever a customer with insufficient funds initiates a transaction, they receive a prompt showing the amount needed to complete the transaction and the Boostika loan limit available to them.
Borrowers are then required to accept the facility and its terms and conditions, after which an SMS notification confirms the transaction.
The facility ranges from Sh100 to Sh100,000, depending on your individual loan limit. It is unsecured and is repayable within 30 days.
Key to note is that Boostika is not cash that you can withdraw for other purposes. It is specifically intended to bridge the gap when you are making an eligible transaction and your available funds fall short.
Access, repayment and eligibility
To qualify, you must be an Equity Bank customer with an active account for at least six months, a good repayment history and an existing loan limit. You must also be making the transaction through *247#, Equitel or the Equity Mobile App.
The facility can be accessed repeatedly as long as you have an available loan limit. Your limit is reviewed monthly, with the amount potentially increasing or decreasing depending on your account activity, transaction patterns and repayment behaviour.
Boostika is repayable within 30 days. Repayment can be made through an automatic sweep from your operating account, or you can make a partial or full payment through the available Equity channels.
You can check your loan limit through *247# by selecting Borrow, then Check Loan Limit and Eazzy Loan. On the Equity Mobile App, go to Borrow, Get Loan, Apply Now and Check Loan Limit. Equitel users can select My Money, Eazzy Loan and Loan Limit.
Outstanding balances can similarly be checked through *247#, the Equity Mobile App or Equitel.
The facility attracts a 5 per cent processing fee, 1 per cent insurance and excise duty equivalent to 20 per cent of the processing fee, alongside interest of 18 per cent per annum.
For customers who have a dormant account, activation is required at an Equity branch before accessing the service.
Boostika is unsecured, and its core appeal lies in matching the amount borrowed to the immediate shortfall. Rather than taking a larger loan than necessary, you can borrow only what you need to complete the transaction at that moment.
If a transaction made using Boostika is sent to the wrong number or paid to the wrong till, a reversal request can be lodged through Equity Bank’s customer-care channels. The bank can be reached on 0763 000 000 or through [email protected].
