Cheapest Loans in Kenya Revealed After Excise Duty Law

KCB Bank’s Vooma mobile loan facility remains the cheapest short-term loan (30 days) in Kenya after July 1, 2021, when the 20% excise duty tax on fees and commissions earned on loans took effect.

Vooma, is the successor of the now discontinued KCB Mobiloan - the latter which also had been the cheapest 30-day mobile loan for a while prior to the new tax. 

Overall, the cost of credit across banks, microfinance institutions and digital lenders has increased courtesy of the new duty. 

By the end of June Vooma had a total cost of credit of 5.91% (as calculated by combining the loan interest and other related fees). Now, the total cost of the same loan facility has risen to 6.91% courtesy of the excise duty. 

The Parliamentary Finance and Planning Committee in rejecting the plea from bankers to exclude fees and commissions from excise duty said the decision was guided by the government’s policy to reduce tax incentives. 

The taxman is now expected to net an additional Ksh7 billion from lenders in taxes on commissions and fees they charge on processing fees. Last year the figure amounted to Ksh35.87 billion. 

Top 4 Cheapest 30-Day Loans in Kenya Today

With the introduction of the 20% excise duty on “fees or commissions” earned by financial institutions on a loan, lenders scrambled to review the cost of their loans to comply with the law. 

However, as the Money254 commercial team has found, the formulae the lenders used led to disparate outcomes in percentage changes in cost of credit.

1. Vooma

The total cost of a Vooma loan increased from 5.91% to 6.91%, a one percentage point increase making it the cheapest 30-day loan despite the increased cost.

2. Vooma

Absa Kenya's Timiza loan increased from 6.08% to 7.15% after the excise duty was factored in making it the second-cheapest 30-day loan in the market.

3. KCB M-Pesa
   

KCB M-Pesa comes in third with the total cost of its 30-day loans increasing from 7.35% to 8.64%. 

4. M-Shwari

Safaricom’s M-Shwari ranks the fourth-cheapest at 9% in total loan cost, up from 7.5% before the introduction of the excise duty on fees and commissions. 

Lenders across the sector have increased the total cost of their loans in varying proportions in reaction to the introduction of the duty.

‍Money254 has just concluded updating the new rates for all lenders in our loan comparison tool. You can check what your favourite lender is charging today using this link and compare with others to help you get the loan that best suits your needs.