M-pesa users can now pay for goods and services when they have less balance in their M-Pesa accounts since Safaricom has rolled out Fuliza to all subscribers on its mobile money. Safaricom made the announcement late last year after they published their half-year results and now the service has been approved by the CBK.
The approval comes after Safaricom ran a pilot program in November last year. Ideally Fuliza is a service that allows M-PESA customers to complete their M-PESA transactions when they have insufficient funds in their M-PESA account. According to Safaricom, 58% of all daily M-Pesa transactions fail due to insufficient funds. And Fuliza is here aim is to solve the shortcoming and it’s important to note that the overdraft facility applies to Lipa na M-Pesa transactions only.
Safaricom launched the overdraft facility in partnership with KCB and CBA. The two banks will use algorithms based on transactions such as M-Pesa deals and airtime use to set a limit on amount which can be accessed by individual customers.
Fuliza allows users can get overdrafts as high as Sh50,000 depending on the value of their transactions and the interest rate on your overdraft is 0.5% per day on the outstanding balance.
And if you have more than one Safaricom line, every M-PESA registered line will be treated as a different account. Each mobile number will qualify for Fuliza M-PESA and will be awarded a limit. This limit will be reviewed every 3 months depending the usage.
Penalties
Once you receive an overdraft, you have to pay it within 90 days or you will be in default. In case you fail to pay within the required days, you will not have access to your Fuliza M-PESA limit if you have any unpaid balance after day 30. This will however be restored on full repayment of your Fuliza balance.
