MTN Uganda has launched an overdraft facility similar to Safaricom’s Fuliza.
Named MoMoAdvance, the facility works like any other overdraft product out there. This means that MTN Mobile Money customers can borrow from their wallets when making payments for goods and services, or sending cash to a friend or family if they run short of money.
“MoMo customers can use their MoMoAdvance to send Mobile Money, pay for goods and services through MoMoPay, Airtime and bundle purchases, pay bills such as water, electricity, TV subscription among others,” says MTN Uganda in a statement.
It is now accessible to MTN Mobile Money customers who have had an account for more than six months.
Furthermore, MTN Uganda says that the service is available for MoMo Agents, merchants, SMEs, and corporate users of MTN Mobile Money, among others.
It has been launched in partnership with NCBA Uganda.
To note, MTN Uganda is part of MTN Group, which has a presence in many countries across the African continent.
MoMoAdvance has been under testing since 2020 where 135K customers participated in the pilot.
Its launch will see customers enjoy the service, where they will be billed an access fee of 2.75 percent of the amount overdrawn.
Customers will also incur 0.5% in daily interest of the outstanding balance for a maximum of 45 days.
Safaricom’s Fuliza, on the other hand, charges customers a 1% access fee, and a maintenance fee on the outstanding balance based on the amount borrowed. For instance, if you overdraw KES 1000, then you will be billed KES 12 per day.
“MTN MoMoAdvance is a product that we have been working on for some time with our partners from NCBA Bank. We are happy to finally roll it out to all our customers and we believe that it will give them the convenience to transact seamlessly beyond their wallet balances during times of need then pay back later,” says Stephen Mutana, the General Manager MTN Mobile Financial Services.
However, customers have a longer repayment period (45 days) for MoMoAdvance, unlike Fuliza that is capped at 30 days.
Lastly, and similar to Fuliza, MTN Uganda is not referring to MoMoAdvance as a loan facility.
“Unlike the MoKash loan facility where MTN customers can borrow money within their credit limits and pay back in 30 days as they wish, MoMoAdvance on the other hand is an overdraft facility that allows customers use more money than they actually have on their accounts, and the overdraft amount is automatically deducted the next time a customer gets funds on their MoMo account,” adds Mr. Mutana.
