Fuliza; All you need to know about Safaricom’s Overdraft Facility.

Safaricom has finally launched the much anticipated overdraft facility, Fuliza after CBK’s approval. The service has been launched with partnership with the Commercial Bank of Africa.

Fuliza will allow its M-Pesa customers to complete transactions even when they have insufficient funds in their M-Pesa accounts. This will ensure that customers who have opted in on Fuliza can be able to buy goods even if they are short of money, which happens almost to everyone who pays for goods using Lipa na Mpesa.

The service will only work on Lipa Na M-Pesa (Paybill and Pay goods) and on Send Money. Customers will not be able to withdraw the loan. Contrary to some interpretation, Safaricom says that Fuliza is not a loan product, rather, it is a a continuous overdraft service that allows you to complete M-Pesa transactions when you have insufficient funds.

Registration

Requirements for registration are quite easy. All you need is an active Safaricom line which has Mpesa activated for not less than 6 months. Then, Dial *234# and select Fuliza M-Pesa to opt in then you are good to go. Every M-Pesa account is eligible for registration

Charges

An access fee of 1% will be charged and a maintenance fee on the outstanding balance. Normal M-Pesa transaction charges apply. Check the table below to understand the charges.

NB: Transactional charges will not the reversed. Outstanding Fuliza M-PESA amount will continue to attract the daily fee of 0.5%

The transaction limits are from Ksh. 1 – Ksh. 70000.

Repayment

An overdraft will be repaid once you load money into your M-Pesa account. 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.

Limits

After registration, an sms will be sent to you indicating your limit. Every customer will get a different limit depending mostly on their M-Pesa usage. To grow the limit, Safaricom that that cutomers will have to continue using Safaricom and M-Pesa and to always ensure that they repay Fuliza- M-Pesa on time by topping up on their M-Pesa Account.

Safaricom notes that 58% of M-Pesa transactions fail due to insufficient funds, and they see Fuliza coming in to bridge that gap. Thinking of it, Fuliza acts just like your credit card, which allows you to purchase for goods, even when you have no money in your bank account.

Read Also: Safaricom and CBA Group Launches an Overdraft Service Dubbed FULIZA.