At the beginning of the month, Safaricom announced Fuliza, an overdraft facility on M-Pesa that would give M-Pesa customers access to an overdraw on their account which would allow them to complete certain M-Pesa transactions even if their current funds are insufficient.
At the time of the announcement, Fuliza was yet to be approved by the Central Bank of Kenya but that issue has since been resolved. As from today, M-Pesa users can access Fuliza through USSD *243# or through the mySafaricom app. The overdraft facility will only apply to Lipa na M-Pesa transactions, i.e., PayBill and Buy Goods.
Once a customer signs up for Fuliza, in the event that they attempt to make a payment and their balance is insufficient, the overdraft will automatically be applied and the payment will go through seamlessly. You will then be required to pay back the overdraft facilitated to you.
The overdraft service that will be provided by CBA Bank will have a repayment date of up to 90 days. Unlike short loan services like M-Shwari that have a fixed monthly facility fee based on the amount borrowed, Fuliza attracts a facility fee of 0.5% per day on the outstanding balance.
To understand more about Fuliza, check out our previous article.
