UbaPesa – A Crypto-Like Lending and Borrowing Kenyan-based Mobile App

UbaPesa allows lending and borrowing via M-PESA in Kenya

There’s a new lending and borrowing app in the Kenyan app marketplace, and it might just change how we borrow, and even lend money to our peers.

Termed as the first peer-to-peer service, the new app will allow users to check a lender’s credibility and disburse funds within seconds via M-PESA.

The new app seeks to leverage on the recent report from FSD which showed that 35% of Kenyan adults are already borrowing money on mobile platforms. UbaPesa however, is unique in the sense that it provides a money back guarantee to the lender and a credit bureau profile for borrowers.

A TrustWorthy Platform

UbaPesa leverages the CRB information to introduce trustworthiness.

In order to ensure trust and accountability, UbaPesa pulls information from the Credit Reference Bureau (CRB) and based on the score tells a lender if a borrower can pay a loan or not and how much money they can be loaned.

Credit worthiness and the risk of users is of vital importance on such financial platforms. The app solves this problem through automatic matching of lenders and borrowers.

UbaPesa charges a facility fee of 8%, 9% and 10% for 10, 20, and 30 days loans respectively. The lender earns up to 55.25% of the total interest on any borrowing, with 44.75% of the interest covering, UbaPesa platform fees, insurance and 15% WHT (withholding tax).

Looking Ahead

The launch of UbaPesa coincides with the move by many Kenyan banks launching mobile products in a bid to tap into the growing market comfortable with mobile lending.

UbaPesa stands unique and offers more incentives over the current market offerings since users can also earn from the platform by lending out.